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LIFE IN THE ARGENTINE

REPUBLIC IN THE DAYS OF
THE TYRANTS;

on,

CIVILIZATION AND BARBARISM.
DOMINGO F. SARMIENTO, LL.D^

BIOGRAPniCAl SKETCH OP TUE AUTHOR,
Bt MBS. HORACE MANN.

LONDON:

SAMPSON LOW, SON, AND MARSTON,

"CaowK Bvii.Diiiai," 188 Fleet Stbxkt.

SWJford UniveTS«*
Utnms Jiiatenali

In compliance with current

Prtxlucts produced this

replacement volume on paper

that meets the ANSI Standard

Z39.4H-1984 lo replace the

irreparably deteriorated

original.

1990
in
@

PREFACE.

Since the translation of thia work by Colonel Sar-
miento was begun, the tide of events has cairicd its
author to the proudest position before his country
which any man since San Martin, the hero of its
independence and of the independence of some of its
sister Republics, has ever occupied. It is true that cir-
cnmstances of even a trivial nature, and still more fre-
quently of a corrupt nature, often bring a man to the
chieftainship of hia country, whether the office is elec-
tive or otherwise ; but in this instance such circum-
stances have been singularly wanting. Colonel Sarmi-
ento, after an absence of seven years from his coun-
try, without any political party, without any pledges of
policy given or required, without any of the machinery
that is generally used to set in motion such important
measures, has by an almost unanimous movement been
made the candidate par excellence for the Presidency
of the Argentine Republic, and the returns are already

IV PREFACE.

known from the province of Buenos Ajres, which
contains one third of the population of the whole
Republic, and is by far the wealthiest, most cultivated,
and most influential part of it. In this province his
election has been complete and unanimous, and the
voice of many other provinces has long been heard
through their daily organs, so that doubtless before
these pages see the light, the favorable result will be
confirmed. Colonel Sarmiento has resisted all the
entreaties of his friends to return to his country to aid
the interests of his election. He has chosen to wait
until elected by the unbiassed will of his countrymen,
— and for wise as well as self-respecting reasons. All
who have followed the golden thread of his life through
the chaotic changes that have harassed the life of the
Republic, so determined to be free and progressive, in
spite of all the temporary reactions of the barbaric
element which has its seat in the peculiar composition
of its society, feel with him that it is only by apprecia-
tion of his motives, sympathy with his aims, and confi-
dence in his ability to save them from the present
threatened anarchy, that he can have any assurance
of doing good from the high position now assigned
him. He has never flattered his countrymen ; he has
always recognized the barbarian tendencies which have
so often overpowered the equally persistent but vitally
permanent influences of civilization, and he has been

equally asitidnous in his endeavors to arouse them from
the apathy inherent, as it were, in a Spanish and at
the same time priest-ridden community ; but even
Cordova, the " city of priests," anchored in conserva-
tism by the very character of its estraordinaiy univer-
sity cnlture, looks to him now as the only salvation for
the nation.

Although a man of decided military ability, as has
been proved at various times when patriotism lias called
him into the field, Colonel Sarmiento is eminently a
man of peace, and during a long exile of twenty years,
as well as in his subsequent brilliant career as Chief of
the Department of Schools, Senator, Minister of State,
and Governor of his native province, in liis diplomatic
missions to Chili, Peru, and tlie United States, has had
but one watchword : " THr Education of the People."
To his countrymen he is the very ideal type of the
ScHOOLHASTEK, whicb be has ever considered his
proudest title-
By persistently keeping this idea uppermost, and op*
posing it to all the adverse tendencies of a community
that could make money enough without it, and con-
stantly predicting the disasters that would fi;om time to
time overwhelm it if this element of freedom were not
cherished as the very ark of its liberties, he made an
impression which in the hour of peril ripened quickly
into a conviction, and to use an oft-repeated expression

of the daily journals of the present period in South
America, " his name surged spontaneously from the
lips of Lis countiymen, and was shouted across the
Cordilleras and the pampas from either border, from
the eastern provinces intelligently, from the western
as a cry of hope born of despair and terror, and from
the interior where his beneficent labors have already
borne fruit and given birth to unlimited hopes of the
fiiture," It is characteristic of that imaginative and
poetical people to be powerfully swayed by a daring
spirit, and a. man must have self-reliance to kindle
them. Colonel Sarmiento's self-reliance is founded in
the nature of the principles he advocates ; and his per-
sonal courage in opposing every form of tyranny and
' barbarism, united with a self-respect which has pre-
vented him from ever asking for an office or a public
favor, now commands an appreciation which perhaps
his countrymen would be iucapabk of rendering under
a less powerful intellectual stimulus than that given by
their present danger.

The study of education also led him to the study of
legislation at home and abroad, and in those two paths
be has been of incalculable benefit to bis country-, not
only conWncing its most advanced men that public
education 13 the only basis of a republic, but aiding
them essentially in modeling their government upon
that of the United States, which is their prototype, and

to which they now look, rather than to Europe, for
light and knowledge.

Colonel Sarmiento, in this work offered to tht
English and American public, gives no intimation of
his personal relations with the tyrants, but as his whole
life and much of tlie life of the Republic is connected
with these relations, it is proposed to give a short ac-
count of its many " dramatic situations," incurred by
his love and utterance of truth. These will be better
understood after than before the perusal of the main
work. A complete life of Colonel Sarmiento, vrith all
its interesting romantic and historical episodes, would
fill two such volumes, but it is hoped that enough has
been left untouched by the iron rules of publication to
make him known, and to show that bis present un-
sought triumph is one that a truly great man may be
proud of. Constantly, from his earliest entrance into
life, sacrificing all personal considerations, rather than
swerve one iota from his principles, or deny himself the
frank utterance of his convictions, he has proved con-
clusively to those who have studied his career, that
he is incapable of any mere personal ambition, though
no one appreciates better the sympathy of his fellow-
men.

It is the cultivated cities of the Argentine Republic,
where Europeans find themselves at home in all that
constitutes civilized society, and where the high culture

of the few is painfully contrasted with the ntter want
of it in the body of the people, that constitute its
difference from the other South American Republics,
Chili excepted, in which certain influences have
brought about certain elements of progress, Colonel
Sarmiento being the chief of these favorable influences.
If the chances of elections, or in this case rather the
brute prowess of the reactionary chieftains, has defeated
his election (which took place on the 12th of April),
he will return to his country and take his seat in the
Senate, to which he has of late been again chosen.
He hopes by his influence in either position to increase
the importance of his country's relations with the
United States, whose great ideas he wishes to see
planted in that hemisphere. The sources of informa-
tion from which the details of his hfe have been gath-
ered, are two or three small biographies, written in
Chili, Peru, and Geneva ; a short memoir in Rhode
Island, the public documents of the Argentine Repub-
lic, the " Journal of the Sessions of the Legislature,"
the " Journal of the Constitutional Convention," and
many periodical works, all containing remarkable
speeches upon various subjects. The reports of the
Chilian government on " Popular Education " may be
added to these, and a little book entitled " Recollec-
tions of a Province," which is partly an autobiography
written in 1850, while still in exile, under peculiar

circnra stances best described in his own prefece to it.
I shall give as copious extracts from this little book as
my space will allow, for it is impossible, as I have
proved by repeated efforts, to convey the same im-
pression by any method of condensation within the
reach of a compiler, which is the only character in
which I have tlie presumption to call myself Colonel
Sarmiento's biographer, a task which even his coun-
trymen are too modest to assume at this moment of so
much importance to their interests. My own interest
in the subject has risen both from a personal one that
grew out of his peculiar relations with my husband, —
in whose name Colonel Sarmiento introduced the boon
of Common School Education into Chili and the Argen-
tine Republic, making the name of Horace Mann a
household word with all whom he imbued with his
own views upon that subject, — and from a deep inter-
est in the nation whose highest aspirations rather than
whose actual condition he represents. I wish there-
fore to place before the public, the series of pictures
that give it a marked individuality, and that have in
the course of a few years made me cognizant of its
history, so obscured to the general eye by the repeated
reactions it has suffered since the days of its hardly-
won independence.

The work called originally " Civilization and Bar-
barism," but in the American translation entitled

" Life in the Argentine Republic," was written in
Chili, during tbe author's exile, in order to make
knovra there the policy of Rosas. It found its way to
France, and was so favorably received in the " Revue
des deux Mondcs," that tlie influence reacted upon his
own country, as well as gave to European publicbts
an explanation of the struggle in the Argentine Re-
public, A work called " Rosas and the Queslions of
the La Plata," and many other European publications,
were based upon its data and its standpoint. Rosas
felt that it gave a mortal blow to his policy, yet during
five years of anathemas hurled at the author by the
*' Gaceta Mercantil," which was his organ, the book
was not named. All the author's books were pro-
scribed, but the name of this one carefully suppressed,
yet no book was more sought or more read in the Re-
public. It was handed about secretly, hidden away in
drawers, and read at every man's peril. V

The " Revue des deux Mondes " says of it : " During
his residence in Santiago, which preceded his travels in
Europe, Seuor Sarmiento published this work full of
attraction and novelty, instructive as history, interest-
ing as a romance, brilliant with imagery and coloring.
.' Civilization and Barbarism ' is not only one of those
rare testimonials which come to us of the intellectual
life of South America, but it is an invaluable docu-
ment. Doubtless passion dictated many of its vigor-

oas pages, bnt even when exalted by passion, there
is internal evidence of a fund of impartiality which
cannot fail to be recognized, and by whose light true
characteristics are given to persona, and a natural
coloring to events. . , , It is no less interesting
to analyze South than North America. This can only
be done by the philosopher, the traveller, the poet, the
historian, the painter of manners and customs, the pub-
licist. Senor Sarmiento has succeeded in realizing this
object in this work, which he has published in Chili,
and which proves that if civilization has enemies in
those regions it also has eloquent champions."

This work and other productions of bis pen, secured-
to SeHor Sarmiento in Europe, which he subsequently -
visited, the acquaintance of many prominent men : M.
Guizot, M. Thiers, Cohden, then ambassador in Spain,
Alexander Dumas, Gil de Zarate, Breton de los Her-
reros, Ventina de la Vega, Aribou, and other literary
Spaniards ; Baron Humboldt, and many others. Pope
Pius IX., then in the meridian of his glory, sent for
him as cousin of the Bishops Cuyo, Oro, and Sarmi-
ento, whom he had known in South America. All
institutions of education were thrown open to bis study
in the portions of Kurcpe which be visited, and to so
well-prepared a mind, everything was full of signifi-
cance, even faihires, both educational and political.
Dr. Wappaus, Professor of Geography and Statistics in

the University of Gottingen, afterwards translated and
.published in German Senor Sarmiento's "Memoir
apon German Emigration to the La Plata," and ac- '
companied it with one hundred and sixty-nine pages of
notes and comments of his own.

When R. W. Emerson read the book, he told
Colonel Sarmiento that if he would write thus for our
public, he would be read ; and Mr. Longfellow sug-
gested writing a romantic poem called the " Red
Ribbon," which might be made as striking though it
is to be hoped an even more exceptional picture of the
peculiar customs of the country than the native poet
Echevarria's " Captive," so descriptive of gaucho life.

Buenos Ayres was founded in 1535, by Don Pedro
Mendoza, and in 1536 Don Juan de Aloyas, the heu-
tenant of Mendoza, ascended the Parana and the
Paraguay, which Sebastian Cabot had visited in 1530,
and founded the city of Asomption in memory of a
victory gained over the Indiana. This city, now the
capital of Paraguay, was then the capital of the Span-
ish possessions in La Plata. In 1537, while Mendoza
was absent in Spain, Buenos Ayres was reduced to
the last extremity by the Querandi Indians. The
Timbues (Indians) destroyed it entirely in 1539. It
was rehabilitated in 1542, again destroyed in 1559.
In 1580, Juan de Garav, lieutenant of the Governor

F^pp*^T^ xiii

of Paraguay, descended the river from Asomption,
and on the 11th of June planted tbe Spanish' Sag on
the old site. He endeavored to people this city with
Oiiarani Indians, massacred the Querandis who had
revolted against him, and died in 1684. Don Francisco
de Zarate, chevalier of the Order of Santiago, and
governor of Buenos Ayres, con6rnied the foundation
of the city by an act of the 10th of February, 1594,
and began to construct the fortifications which are now
seen on the bank of the river. In 1620, the govern-
ment of Asomption was reduced in Paraguay, and
Buenos Ayres became the chief city of the second
government estabUshed in La Plata. In 1629, a
royal decree united into a single viceroyalty the
hitherto separate governments of Buenos Ayres, of
Asomption, and the provinces of Charcas, Potosi, and
Cochabamba. In 1640, the Portuguese carried their
arms into the La Plata, but afVer many contests,
stretching over many years, a treaty was made in
1785, by which the domain came into the possession
of Spain definitively.

Until the eighteenth century there was but one
viceroyalty in South America, that of Peru, which
extended from the western to the eastern shore, but
on account of the inconveniences of so large a ter-
ritory, Spain created another in New Grenada in
1718, a capitancy in Caraccas in 1734, another in

Chili at the same time, and the viceroyalty of Bue
Ayres, including the provinces of Upper Peru.

The viceroy was tlie representative of the King
and his court, and he maintained the pomp and luxury
of the court of Madrid. The viceroyalty united the
civil and military power with no other counterpoise
than the distant dependency of the Council of the
Indies, and the near but indirect inspection of the
audiencia, a court of appeal for all cases not exceed-
ing 10,000 dollars in gold. The viceroy was ex
officio its president. His sanction, assisted by an as-
sessor, was necessary to promulgate any sentence.

The salary of the viceroyalty, 60,000 dollars in
gold in Mexico and Peru, and 40,000 in Buenos
Ayres and New Grenada, sufficed to sustain the lux-
ury prescribed by the royal ordinances. It generally
lasted five years, and was then obliged to render an
account of its administration, and the viceroy pre-
sented himself in person to answer to any charges
made against him. Other high fiinctionarip- ""ere
obliged to do the same. The members of the audi-
encia were not paid ; they must be natives of Spain,
and could not form marriage ties in South America ;
they were even recommended not to contract intimate
social relations witi ''le residents of the country ; but
an exception was made in &vor of Creoles. The
officials of this body were a regent, three auditors.

A'o fiacals, and they took command of everything

i of declaring war.

The functions of subdelegatea (corregidores) were

i same aa in the peninsula. The institution of
municipalities was the best guarantee against abases,
and these are still existent and of great import.
Although the individuals of these corporations were
not elected popularly, they were considered by the
people as their own representatives.

The ecclesiastical hierarchy formed another part of
the colonial system. Ten viceroys in succession occu-
pied Buenos Ayres from 1777 to 1806. The Marquis
of Sobremonte was the King's representative in 1806,
when the English invaded La Plata. The viceroy
abandoned the capital on the 2Tth of June that year,
leaving it to the occupation of General Beresford, and
fled to Cordova, where he obliged the people to re-
ceive him with all the pomp due to his rank. The
Governor of Montevideo, Ruiz Huidobro, and the
eahildo '- and population of that city, prepared to re-
conquer Buenos Ayres. While the expedition was in

1 Tbc cabildo wu ■ popnlu' uumbl^ trilh officiali uiswering (o
mayon and aldermeii; Iheir iCtributea ud pr«rog>tiv«a -wtn veiy greit,
upecially Bfter Uia dcurnfi]) of the viccrojalty. Thii form of goT«ni-
nwnt wu onginiJIf Ukan from the peniaaulu ^vemmect, vith Uic idea
of opposinf; ■ baniet to Iha exactions of the L^.^al lurdt. RirodaTii,
when PmiidcDt in I82G, luppreued Ifaia body and aubititated for it [he
mimicipality whicb itiU exisU.

preparation, Santiago Liniers, captain of a vessel, a
Frenchman in the employ of Spain, arrived at Monte-
video with the same purpose. The forces were con-
fided to his command, and he retook Buenos Ayrea on
the 14th of August, The next day the principal
inhabitants formed themselves into a junta which
invested Liniers with the command, and created civic
forces to defend the territory which was threatened
with a new invasion, '"""bremonte "was ouiiged to
bend before the will of tlie people-. He confirmed
Liniers in the military command, delegated his politi-
cal and administrative powers to the audiencia, and
retired to Montevideo.

In 1807, Sir Samuel Auchmuchty with five thou-
sand English soldiers, took Montevideo by assault
The cabildo and the civic corps demanded the im '
prisoument of Sobremonte, and the audiencia, afte ■
resisting for a time, yielded to the will of the {«opl
and took part in a second junta which decreed the
arrest of tlie viceroy and the seizure of his papers.

Another English force under General Whitlocke,
laid siege to Buenos Ayres, but was beaten in the
streets of the city on the 3d of July, capitulated, snd
was obliged to evacuate the whole territory of La
Plata. The court of Spain confirmed Liniers in the
post of viceroy, and nominated Don Francesco Ja-ier
Elio governor per interim of Montevideo.

But from tiwr lime. Sobromentei was deposed, the
prestige of the viceroyaity was lost, never to be
restored. At this period arose two rival parties, the
liuropean and the American. Ferdinand VII. was
at that time dethroned ; and this trouble in Spain,
added to the ideas suggested by the French revolution,
increased the difficulties in iiouth America. Tlie Ist of
January, 1809, a conspiracy, supported by the Euro-
peans, presented themselves in the public square of
Buenos Ayres, and deoianded the deposition of the
viceroy and the establishment of a governmental junta
for the whole viceroyaity. This met with opposition,
of course, but the idea of independence had taken
possession of the people, and the result was that a
junta was formed, and three persons were put in
power. After the fall of this junta, and the establish-
ment of other similar ones, the government was placed
in 1814, in the hands of a single person, called Su-
preme Director of the United Provinces of the La
Plata. From the beginning of tliis supreme directory,
especially after the return of Ferdinand VII. to the
throne, there was supposed to be a strong tendency in
Buenos Ayres towards submitting to the royal author-
ity. But. if this desire had existed in any force among
those who directed affairs, or guided public opinion, no
opportunity or pretext could have offered more fevor-
able to it than the incessant solicitations and proposi-

tions of the Princess Carlota, who asked to reign
there independently, but which in efiect were always
utterly powerless in Buenos Ayres. General Alvear,
appointed Director in 1815, had already made sub-
mission to the King, but this reaction caused a revolu-
tion in April, at the head of which stood the cabildo.
The assembly was dissolved, and the Director dis-
placed and exiled. On the 24th of March, 1816, a
general congress opened its sessions at Tucuman. It
declared the independence of the provinces on the 9th
of July, since observed in the Kepublic as the 4th of
July in North America, and Don Juan Martin Puynre-
don was appointed Director. He assumed the power
on the 29th of July. Three years afler, General
Rondeau was appointed Director in Puyrredon's
pi ace. ^

1 Wbeo Colonel Sirmieato vu ia Fnnci in 18GT, at the iwardiiig of
priisi in tbe Exposilioa, tlie Argenline UiaisUr lo Fnnci, -wbo b the
MD-ia-law or Geaenl Son Uarlin, the moiC nnnarkable Argtntine hero
of iddcpBDileDce, gave ui gffici&l buiquet to the legaLioiiT oo which occiL-
■ioD CoIoubI Sumiealo bad tho pleaiure of nlatiag ui hialoric bet, ODtil
thm uoknoTD, uuiulj; Uut ti«Dcnl San MulJii, by hii coocselB to the
Congreu of Tucuniui in 1816, at which time Independence was declared,
wu tbe moving spirit qI that act of the Coagresi, for which the Depuljea
wire not at that time prepared. To Colonel Saimieato, alio, the poblio ii
indebted for the detail* of the famoiu interview between San Martin uid
fioliiariu Gnajaquil, which leaolled m San Martin's noble aelf-abnega-
lion and renunciation, not only of bis place in the activity of that period,
bat in the lifelong misunderBtaoding of hii con temporaries, ail of which
Colonel Sarmiento look horn tbs lips of the grand old man when he

In the mean time, tlie province of Montevideo had
rebelled, and the place had been taken by General
Alvear on the 23d of June, 1814. General Artigas,
one of the country commandants, who cooperated in
the siege, had early given tokens of insubordination,
and General Alvear undertook to pursue him with the
forces that had occupied Montevideo. Master of the
Banda Oriental, and of all its resources, Artigas dis-
played his resentment towards Buenos Ayres. He
not only took the Oriental province from the Argen-
tine community, but his personal influence and that of
his system, extended over Corrientes, Entrerios, Santa
F^, and Cordova. No treaties were accepted by
either side. One of the efi^cts of his influence was
the invasion of the province of Buenos Ayres by the
troops of Santa F4 and Entrerios, and in February
1820, the Director Rondeau was beaten at La CaQada
de Cepeda. The conquerors entered Buenos Ayres
with their troops, dissolved the Congress and the Di-
rectory, and reduced its power to Buenos Ayres alone.
Some authors, in speaking of the revolution of 1810,
have attributed to the landed proprietors considered as
a class, an influence, an ambition, and political views
which never had an existence. They declared them-

TtiiUd him in hiB Hlf-impiwad ezila >t Gnndbourg in Fnnc*, in 1848.
Put)' pauioni had obacnrgd the lubjacl till tbst nTelalioD ma mads
tram u latbeDtic * aoaret.

selves for their country, as many other classes did,
purely from a sentiment of patriotism, and nothing
more. Doring the first ten years of the revolution,
when the existence of the Federal and Unitario par-
ties was an old story, the rural districts of most of
the provinces, and that of Buenos Ayres particularly,
were indifi'erent and even strangers to those questions
and those parties. That multitude of changes in the
government which took place in the cities in fevor of
one or the other party, were of no importance or
interest in the campagna. It was not till 1815 that it
was called upon to give its opinion, conjointly with
that of the city, not only upon the validity of a gov-
ernment, but even upon the proposed reform of a
provisory State, which was never realized. The rural
districts never made a movement which revealed a
political idea, and they never misunderstood any gov-
ernment. It is true that the gauchos, a peculiar race
of men that is seen in the pampas, and holds a middle
place between the European and the aboriginal inhab-
itant, followed certain partisans of that epoch, but it
was because those partisans were the immediate au-
thority which they recognized ; they followed them
fr^m personal affection and from the habit of obe-
dience, but from no political conviction, nor from any
desire to make any system prevail for their interest as
a class. The chieftainship (caudillage) did not ap-

pear till 1829, The rural districta, passively obedient,
knew neither " Unitarianism " nor "Federalism," If
the Congress of 1826 liad proclaimed a federation, the
chiefs that then represented the federation would have
cried unity ; the opposition was against men, not
against things, which were but a pretext.

In 1820, in the absence of the Governor of the
Province, Don Manuel Dorrego, who had offended and
gone to fight the Governor of Sante Fe, Don Martin
Rodriguez was put in his place. The cabildo pro-
tested against this ; the city was thrown into agita- .
tion, and Rodriguez had to flee to the country. He
returned to the city with Juan Manuel Rosas, com-
mander of the militia or coantry forces, called the
Colorados (or red soldiers) of La Conchas — a man of
a Buenos Ayres family, but who, rejecting education,
had gone into the country to enjoy more license for his
vices than the customs of the city would allow. By
the help of Rosas, Rodriguez was reeslablisheil. Hap-
pily, Rodriguez chose Rivadavia for his prime miniB-
ter, and the country appeared to breathe a free breath
under the wise and enlightened administration of this
truly great man.

When the Revolution of Independence began, the
grand fractions of the viceroyalty, now its separate
States, proposed to separate and form private govern-
ments. When the struggle with Spain ended, this was

effected. Rivadavia, who was the chief of the Uni-
tarios, began by introducing into Buenos Ayres the
complete system of a Republic for this province alone,
with legislature, government, revenues, etc., lilce the
North American States, and advised the other prov-
inces to do the same, each for itself. This was Vnt-
tarianUm. The foundatftns of federal system were
thus unconsciously laid ai»the Unitarios themselves,
though at that time they opposed federation. What
Rivadavia wished at that moment was to give to the
actual governments regular form ; but he, San Martin
and Bolivar, had the same horror of the idea of federa-
tion that the French had in the time of the Girondines.
Rodriguez was succeeded in 1824 by General Don
Juan Gregorio las Heras. Under his administration a
general Congress was convoked, which created a gen-
eral government under a President, independent of the
government of Buenos Ayres, The seat of both the
provincial and general governments was the city of
Buenos Ayres, and grave inconveniences were the
consequence. The provincial government and its rep-
resentatives were dissolved, and Rivadavia was made
President-General on the 8th of February, 18213. He
kept that office but one year. The opposition to him
in Congress was in the majority, and he resigned. Dr.
Don Vicente Lopez was put in his place. When Con-
gress dissolved, the representatives, the majority of

whom were Federals, nominated Don Manuel Dorrego,
who began to rule in August, 1827. He was driven out
by Juan Lavalle in December of this year. Dorrego
fled to the country, but was beaten and shot by La-
valle. Rosas, partisan of Dorrego, fled to Santa F6,
from whence he returned with Lopez, its governor.
Lavalle was beaten by Lopez, at the Puente del Mar-
ques, in X828. Don J. Jos'4 Viemont was appointed
Governor, and in 1829 was succeeded by Rosas. The
Unitario forces, who, with their leaders, bad emigrated
from Buenos Ayres, occupied the Province of Cor-
doba, under the orders of General Paz, who was
caught by a lasso at the head of Iiis anny, and thus
made prisoner. Facundo Quiroga triumphed over
CastOlo, another Unitario chief, and this was the occa-
sion of bis appearing on the general scene of action.
He was the most celebrated of all those chiefs, repre-
senting no party, but a gaticho of gauchog ; his char-
acteristics brought him an influence, baleful though it
was, which made him aspire to the flrat place in the
Republic. Rosas, whose most distinguishing traits
were his atrocious cruelty and malice, was jealous of
him, and caused his assassination at Barranca-yaco.
All the accomplices of the crime tvere subsequently ar-
rested and executed. Lopez died soon after under cir-
cumstances tliat pointed almost unmistakably to poison.
Cnllen, Governor of Santa F6, who had bathed his

hands in tlie conspiracy against Quiroga, and who had
letters in his possession tliat would have compromised
Bosas, was shot by Rosas' order at the Arroyo del
Medio, a httle river between the Provinces of Buenos
Ayres and Santa F^, to which place he was trans-
ported for that purpose. The character of Rosas was
as stupidly misunderstood abroad, at the time of his
supremacy, as that of Lopez of Paraguay at the pres-
ent time. When he was appointed Governor by the
Congress, he was crowned by the women ; the city
was illuminated, bands of music paraded, the people
were in a state of exultation, and the universal cry
was "Death to the Unitarios!" On the 18th day
of the same month the House of Representatives, " in
order to reward the worthy citizen, Don Juan Manuel
Bosas, and his country companions, for having stiBed
the scandalous military insurrection of the 1st of De-
cember, 1828," voted for a law declaring all publica-
tions printed since the 1st of December, 1828, against
the former governor, Dorrego, or Colonel Rosas, or
the provincial governors and respectable patriots who
had served the cause of order, to be infamous libels,
and disgraceful to public morals and honor. It also
declared him " the restorer of the laws and insti-
tntions of the Province of Buenos Ayres. The
rank of Brigadier-General of this province shall be
given him, and the legislature charges itself with

making him known in this character throughout the
Republic. lie shall be decorated with a sword and a
golden medal ornamented with the symbols of law,
justice, and courage ; the medal shall be garnished
with brilliants on one side, and shall have a crown of
laurels and an olive branch as an emblem of gratitude,
with these words : Buerws Ayrei to ike Restorer of the
Lawa, The reverse shall have his bust in cement, with
utensils of agriculture and trophies of war, and the
device : He cuXtivaUd his fields and defended his coun-
try"

But their hopes were sadly disappointed. For more
than twenty years he held them in abject terror, such
as Colonel Sarmiento has described. The rigor of his
rule deceived the world, which gives the meed to suc-
cess rather than to merit. When Colonel Sarmiento
visited the United States in 1847, and saw the work-
ing of federal institutions, his views of government
underwent a great change. He had been a Unitario
from education, and antagonism of ideas to Kosas and
the caudiUot, or country chiefs, and from 1827 had
taken arms against the Federal party, which was iden-
tified with them. Forty years of separation of the
provinces, during which each bad had its own govern-
ment, had broken every national tie, and they could
not easily unite under a federal government, such as
the caudillos bad proposed in opposition to Rivadavia.

Bosaa bad continued to triumph over all the forces
which the RcpuUic had united to free itself from his
horrible tyranny, and the Unitario chiefs and emigrants
were driven into Montevideo, where Rosaa besieged
them. In 1848, while still in Chili, Colonel Sarmiento
established a periodical called " The Cronica," and ad-
vocated a federal government, like that of the United
States, as the only means of continuing the Republic.
In this manner he could attract the provinces to
their party, accepting the federation, which existed, in
fact. Alter he had established that semi-annual peri-
odical, he founded another weekly one, called " Sud
Araercia," which lasted till 1850, in which he unfolded_
the constituent principles of federation, and promoted
the free navigation of the rivers in order to give sea-
ports to the provinces. Another object of it was to
encourage emigration. His endeavors were crowned
with the most complete success. In 1850, he wrote a
pamphlet proposing a Congress, and preparing the way
to form a union and alliance of the Unitario chiefs and
the Federal caudillos. This pamphlet was called " Ar-
giropolis," and his plan was to found another capital
in the island of Martin Garcia. This pamphlet was
very effective, and ruined Rosas among his own sup-
porters. Bompland, the celebrated naturahst, the com-
panion of Humboldt, presented himself before Urqiiiza,
the principal chieftain under Rosas, and refused obedi-

ence to the latter, and proposed a federal constitution
and the alliance of the Unitarios, who had collected for
mutual defense at Montevideo. This plan was ac-
cepted. Colonel Sarmiento, the present President
Mitr^, and Greneral Paanero, now candidate for the
Vice-Presidency, left Chili and went to Buenos Ayres,
round Cape Horn, to join Urquiza. They conquered
Rosas at Caseros, Thus the Unitarian party itself
agreed to give the country a federal constitution.
Colonel Sarmiento began the movement alone, but
was finally joined by his friends. But General Ur-
quiza proved incapable, through his ignorance and hig
gaucho habits, of comprehending the significance of
the thing he had clone himself, and endeavored to con-
tinue the old arbitrary rule. The biographical sketch
in this volume recounts the self- banishment of Colonel
Sarmiento at this time, and his subsequent return and
labors in the Province of Buenos Ayrea in a private
capacity. Buenos Ayres succeeded in resisting Ur-
quiza at this time, and constituted itself again a
separate State while Urquiza governed the provinces.
When Colonel Sarmiento was elected Deputy to the
legislature of Buenos Ayres, before his release from
Chili in 1855, he refused the office, and addressed a
letter to the electors, reproaching them for having
separated from the Republic. He was then appointed
Deputy from Tucuman, and refiised that also, because

Tucuman had constituted itself independent of Buenos
Ayres. When he went to Buenos A3Tres in 1856, all
his efforts and writings had for their object the Union.
His oration at that time over the ashes of Rivadavia,
which he gave at the request of the municipality when
they were received from Europe at the port of Buenos
Ayres, was an appeal to the national sentiment for
this Union, In 1859, the Convention, called at the in-
stigation of himself and friends, met at Buenos Ayres
to amend the Constitution, and Colonel Sarmiento pro-
posed snch amendments as made it resemble that of
the United States, and in the National Convention was
chiefly instrumental in ratifying these and bringing
about the Union which now exists.

When Governor of San Juan, he labored to amend
the State government, but was opposed by his Uni-
tario friends, who feared that he would give the prov-
inces too much power. The disastrous history of
the last few years has proved that he was in the right,
and his countrymen, by the light of the conflagration
of civil war, have at last seen that he was their best
gaide^ and the only prominent man that has clearly
mastered the situation. Their wild cry of agony now
summons him to their aid.

MARY MANN.

CONTENTS.

OHAPTEB I.
FHTBicu. coirrENTa or tbk betubi;

EivBtB without Commerce

. . . B

The Rule of the Strongest

Native Indolence

. . . 9

CHAPTER II.
Poetic Cbaracter

E FEOrLE.

. . . 26-39

Kwtresilor. tbe Trnek -Finder

BiuiueaDo, or P.lh-Findet

. 83-W
. . 8B-89

ThB Cuitor. or Minstrel

CHAPTER m.

41-4G

. S3

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER IV.

THE BBVOLUnOH OP 1810.

FAQI

The Beginoing of the Revolution 57

The Middle Party 59

The Montonera*8 Savagery 61

The Violent Death of Cities 63

Rioja 64-66

San Jaan . . ' 67-70

The Rodriguez 71

CHAPTER V.

LIFE OF FACUNDO QUIROOA.

HiB Infancy and Youth 73

The Tiger 76

Quiroga's Education 77

HabiUofLife 79

The 6aucho*8 Revenge 81

Rebellious Spirit 83

Domestic Character 83

Facundo in Prison 85

Characteristics 87

Facundo as a Diviner 89

CHAPTER VI.

ZJk. BIOJA.

Feud between Ocampos and Davilas 93

Facundo as Commandant * 97

Davila made Governor 99

Blanco made Governor 101

Facundo as Financier 103

Facundo's Avarice 105

Blining Fever 107

Gambling . ' 109

Consequences of Facundo*s Government Ill

CHAPTER Vn.

80CXAL UFB.

Transition Period 113

Cordova 114-120

Buenos Ayrea 131-187

Unitarios 128

The Two Parties. ProBreH »nd RuetioD m

Cooaoliilatinn IneTitsble Ul

F«ouDdo'B iDdiridoality . IIH

CHAPTER Vni.

Congress 13*

Cu1dd«1 Madrid's Miuion 130

SlKoificuice of (he Color " Ked " ..'.... laT

Effects of yreedom of Thought ijj

TheKedRJbhoQ Ml

FKDnda tai the Fedarals 143

Toltntioo m

The BiMk Flag 1«

The Catholic Pirtf uid Rsligion 147

An Easy Way of Payine iitbu hb

Kivadavia Bnigni IBl

CHAPTER IX.

Dorrepo and the Unitaiios .

Tha Execution of DorrtKO hy Lava

The Coming Campaign

Battle of Tablada .

Tablada and Cordon .

General I'ai ....

A Spark of Huoiianity
Oncativo .

CHAPTER X.

CHAPTER 51.

ZXXll CONTENTS.

FAOS

Capture of Rio Qaarto . 188

Caatillo's Blunders 185

Castillo's Civilizing Work 187

Introduction of the Silk-Worm 189

Facundo at his Old Ways 191

Death of Villa&ne 192

Navarro 193

Yillafafie 195

Facundo*s Discipline 197

Terror a Power 199

CHAPTER Xn.

SOCIAL WAR.

Ciudadela 201

Tucuman 202

Facundo*s Cruelty 209

Tyranny 211

River Navigation 213

Persecution 214

CHAPTER XIU.

BARRANCA-TACO ! ! !

Idea of Government 216

Rosas Governor of Buenos Ajrres 219

Rosas and Facundo 221

Facundo at Buenos Ayres 223

Facundo*s New Plans 225

Facundo*s Secret Opposition to Rosas 227

Facundo's Presentiments 229

Facundo*s Obstinacy 231

Facundo*s Individuality 233

Facundo*s Death 234

Santos Peres * . . . 235

CHAPTER xnr.

FRIAR JOSi FELIX ALDAO, BRIOADISR-OBITERAL AXD GOYXRHOR.

Lieutenant Jos^ Aldao 237

The Catholic Party and Religion 239

Aldao Captain under San Martin 241

Aldao at Mendoza 243

The Aldao Triumvirate 245

Future Deitiny of the Repnllic 2i7

Bircita, the Educated Slnve S4S

Facundo'n Pilnce 951

T»blad« 253

El Pilar S5fi

Aldao and Facundo 159

Petition of Mendoza 901

Oaneral Pai Lassoed 9G1

Card-playing 9G3

Rodriguez Ibe Soldier 3SS

Briauela SGB

Aiha 267

Rodeo del Medio 980

Aldao'i Harero 271

Death of Aldao 2T3

Wbat Meodoia gained from Aldau'aGovcmrnciit . . . . 2TJ

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF THE ACTHOR.

Genealogy S70

Don Jo«t' de Oro 377

PreftcelotheltecDlleclionsorarroviuM 270

The Hiitfirj- of my Mother 280

TiilonofhiaSlother's Death 281

Don Joi^ Cnstro SS4

ChnraeteristiCTof'Sfy Mother" 28*

-MyFalher" 281

TheFieataofScPeter 280

The Palemal Hearth gSO

The Homratead iSl

Borne Intinencu 293

L& ToriliiB and St Cleme SSH

Colonial Life Kb

WorliiofArt 297

The Sentence of Sainta and Fig-tree 999

Cbani;e9 100

Early I'^duiwlioil 801

Bayish Tni-les 308

War of 1810 806

Bchnol of Ln Pstria 80C

Don IgnDcio Rodriguea 307

Don Antonio Abemitain ^}^

XXXIV CONTEKTS.

Sarmiento School «... S0&-314

/EdacAtion after leaving School 815

Beadingi 817

PablJcLife 818-821

Heroic Eothusiatm 821

PeriUofCirnWar 822

The Mastery of Languages 823

Blayordomo of Copiapo Mines 824

A Commnnitj' of Students 825

Progress of Mind 826

LaZonda 827

PoliUcal Difficulties 828

Interview with Benavides 829

Second Summons firom Benavides 830

Reasoning with an Ignorant Tyrant 831

Official Force in San Juan 882

Arrest by Benavides 333

Seventeenth of November 883

Face to Face with Death 835

In Prison , ,^ % 337

Exile 339

Literary Labor in Chili 840,341

Rout ofLaMadrid^s Army 843

Fugitives in the Mountains 844, 345

Second Exile 345

Resumption of Literary Labors in Chili 346

Normal School in ChiU 347, 348

Editor of Periodicals 349

Trials in ChiU 350-352

Biographies 352

European Tour 853

Interview with Cobden 354-357

Acquaintance with Mr. Horace Mann 357

La Cronica and other Writings 858

Return to Bueiios Ayres and Conquest over Rosas .... 359

Voluntary Exile to Chili 359

More I^iterary Labors 860

Residence in Buenos Ayres . ^ 860

Letter to Juana Manvo 361

Senator 362

Cepeda 863

Eighth of November 864

Conventions to Reform Constitution — Debates of Congress . . 865

Winisler «nd Chief of Staff— Eight Years of EducitioDal Libor . 857

EcIuCBlioDHl Works 368

Political and Moral Inauecce 8611

Land Surreyi STl

ChivUcQi 87a

lales of lb* Parana 378, 3T«

Raihroad fram Sin Farouido to Buenos Ay res STB

BeDBTidra, Bdbbs, UrqniiB 3T&

Viraaero — DaalhofDr. Aberastaia 878

Battle or Paron — Beception at San Jnan 377

Made Goveinor of Sbd Jiun 378

Sarmiento School 3T9

Uinlng iDlereats 880,881

ElCbacbo 3S9

ClaTBTO 8U

Diplomatic Uiuions 385

Admiral Pinion —Cblnclmlgland! .386

Diiiuterested Political Action 387

Soutb American Congress 3S7

[iamarkable PredictioBi , . . 38S, 389

Writiagi In Nortb America 389, 890

Ambu Americas 891

La Seiiora Joana Muuo 89S

French Kxpoeition 393

Menof South America 393

Appreciation by bis Countiynien SOS

Appendix 897

LIFE IN THE ARGENTINE REPUBLIC.

PHTSICAL ASPECT OF THE ARGENTINE KEPUBLIC, AXD
THE FOKUS OF CHABACTEB, HABITS, AND IDEAS INDUCED

The Continent of America ends at the south in a
point, with the Strait of Magellan at its southern ex-
tremity. Upon the west, the Chilian Andes run par-
allel to the coast at a short distance from the Pacific.
Between thnt range of mountains and the Atlantic is
a country whose boundary follows the River Plata up
the course of the Uruguay into the interior, which was
'formerly known as the United Provinces of the River
Plata, but where blood is still shed to determine
whether its name shall be the Argentine Kepublic or
the Argentine Confederation. On the north lie Para-
guay, the Gran Choco, and Bolivia, its assumed boun-
daries, '

The va^t tract which occupies its extremities is alto-
gether uninhabited, and possesses navigable ri vers as
yet anfiirrowed even by a frail canoe. "Its own extent

2 LIFE IS THE ARGENTINE REPDBLIC.

is tlip evil from ff hi cl. i.'ie Argentine Republic s uffers ;
the desert enconii'i'sses it on every side and penetrates
its veiy heai-; ; wastes containing no human flweiling,
arc, generally speaking, the unmistakable bounda-
ri-.s between its several provinces. Immensity is the
universal characteristic of the country : the plains, the
woods, tile rivers, are all immense ; and the horizon
is always undefined, always lost in haze and delicate
vapors which forbid the eye to mark the point in the
distant perspective, where the land ends and the sky
begins, f^hj the t^-utli p'nl on t he nort h are^a^ges
ever on the watch, wh o take advant.ijie of the_inomilight
lUgh t^ tn fall likp parks of hjenas Hj»on th e herds j n
their pastures, and upon the _defeU5eleaa,Sfitllements.
When the solitary caravan of wagons, as it sluggishly
traverses tlie pampas, lialts for a short period of rest, the
men in charge of it, grouped around their scanty fire,
turn their eyes mechanically toward the south upon the
bintest whisper of the wind among tlie dry grass, and
gaze into the deep darkness of the night, in search of
tlie sinister visages of the savage horde, whichi_at any
moment, approaching unperceived, may surprise them.
If no sound reaches their ears, if their sight fails to
pierce the gloomy veil which covers tlie silent wilder-
ness, tliey direct tlieir eyes, before entirely dismissing
their apprehensions, to the ears ot any horse standing
within the firelight, to see if they are pricked up or
turned carelessly backwards. Then they resume their
interrupted conversation, or put into their mouths the
half-scorched pieces of dried beef 6n which they subsist.
When not fearful_of the approach of the savage, the _ _

PHYSICAL CONDITIONS. 3

plainsman has equal cause to dread the keeii eyes qf^he
'liger, or tlie viper toncath liis feet. Tins constant inse-
curity of life outside tlie towns, in my o pin ion» .stamps
iipon~tIie Arg entijie cliararti'r a ci'itiiiii stiiiral resig.-
nation to de ath by violt'iuc wliicli j^ ron;i-Lnlt'il as one
of the ine vitable probaliiIitii.'s of exi'^teucf. Perhaps ,
this is the reason why they inflict death or submit to it
with so much indifference, and why such events make
no deep or lasting impression upon the survivors. '

The hihabited portion of this country — a country
unusually favored by nature, and embracing all varie-
ties of climates — maybe divided into three sections
possessing distinct characteristics, which cause differ-
ences of character among the inhabitants, growing out
of the necessity of their adapting themselves to the
physical conditions which surround them.

In the nortli, an extensive forest, reaching to the
Chaco, covers with its impenetrable mass of boughs a
space whose extent would seem incredible if there could
be any marvel too great for the colossal tj'pes of Nature
in America.

In the central zone, lying parallel to the former, the
plain and the forest long contend with each otlier for
the possession of the soil ; the trees prevail for some
distance, but gradually dwindle into stunted and thorny
bashes, only reappearing in belts of forest along the
banks of the streams, until finally in the south, the vic-
tory remains with the plain, which displays its smooth,
velvet-like am^ace unbounded and unbroken. It is the —
ima ge of tlflp spa npnn ttiP Inml • (Im earth as it appears
Q^n the map — the earth_ygt_^waitinfl^for_tJa.e_cflmmitnd

4 LIFE IN THE ARGENTINE REPUBLIC.

toiling forth every herb yielding seed after its kind-
We may indicate, as a noteworthy feature in the con-
Sgnration of this country, the apgregation of navigable
rivers, which come together in the east, from all points
of the horizon, to form the Plata by their union, and
thus worthily to present their mighty tribute to the
Ocean, which receives it, not without visible marks of
disturbance and respect. But these immense canals,
excavated by the careful hand of Nature, introduce no
cliange into the national customs. The sons of the
Spanish adventurers who colonized the country hate
to travel hy water, feeling themselves imprisoned when
within the narrow limits of a boat or a pinnace. When
their patli is crossed by a great river, they strip them-
selves unconcernedly, prepare their horses for swim-
ming, and plunging in, make for some island visible in
the distance, where horse and horseman take breath,
and by thus continuing their course from isle to isle,
finally effect their crossing.

Thus is the greatest blessing which Providence
bestows upon any people disdained by the Argentine
gaucho, who regards it rather as an obstacle opposed
to his movements, than as the most powerful means of
facilitating them ; thus the fountain of national growth,
the origin of the early celebrity of Egypt, tlie cause of
Holland's greatness, and of the rapid development of
iTorth America, the navigation of rivers, or the use of
canals, remains a latent power, unappreciated by the
inhabitants of tlie banks of the Bermejo, Pilcomayo,
Par ana, and Paraguay. A few small vessels, manned
By Italians and adventurers, sail up stream from the

RIVERS WITHOCT COUMERCE. 6

Plata, bnt after ascending a few leagues, even this
navigation entireh- ceases. The instinct of the sailor,
which the Saxon colonists of the north possess in so
htgh a degree, was not bestowed upon the Spaniard.
Another spirit is needed to stir these arteries in which
a nation's life-blood now lies stagnant. Of all these
rivers which should bear civilization, power, and wealth,
to the most hidden recesses of the continent, and make
of Santa Fe, Entre Rios, Corrientes, Cordova, Salcas,
Tucuman, and Jujui, rich and populous states, the
Plata alone, which at last unites them all, bestows its
benefits upon the inhabitants of its banks. At its
toiouth stand two cities, Montevideo and Buenos Ayres,
which at present reap alternately the advantages of
their enviable position. Buenos Ayres is destined to
be some day the most gigantic city of either America.
Under a benignant climate, mistress of the navigation
of a hundred rivers flowing past her feet, covering a
vast area, and surrounded by inland provinces which
know no other outlet for their products, she wou Id er e*1
now have become the Babylon of America, if the spirit
oTtlie Pampa had not breathed upon lier, and left un-_|
tteveloped the rich offerings which the rivers and prov- |
inces should unceasingly bring. She is the only cityl
m the vast Argentine territory which isjn communica-f
tion with European nations ; she alone can avail her-]
Belf of the adi'antages of foreign commerce ; she alone
has power and revenue. Vainly have the provinces
aaked to receive through her, civilization, industry, and
European population ; a senseless colonial policy made
her deaf to these cries. But tiie provinces had thei
revenge when they sent to her in Rosas the climax of -j
their own barbarism.

6 un a THE ABGElfnXE BI7UBL1C.

Heavily cnonpli have those who anere<l it, paid for
the Gayin<;, "The Argentine Republic ends at the
Arroyo del Medio." It now reaches from the Andes
to the sea, while barbarism and violence hare sunk
Buenos Ayres below the level of the provinces. We
ought not to complain of Buenos Avres that she is
I great and will be jrrealer, for this is her destiny. This
f'^ald be to complain of Providence and call upon it
to alter physical outlines. This being impossible, let
OB accept as well done what has been done by the
^Master's hand. Let us rather blame the ignorance of
; that brutal jmiver which makes the gifts lavished by
Nature upon an erring people of no avail for itself or
for the provinces. Buenos Ayres, instead of sending
to the interior, light, wealth, and prosperity, sends only
I chains, exterminating hordes, and petty subaltern ty-
[^ rants. She, too, takes her revenge for the evil inflicted
upon her by the provinces when they prepared for her
a Rosas!

I have indicated the circumstance that the position
of Buenos Ayres favors monopoly, in order to sliow
that the configuration of the countiy so tends to cen-
tralization and consolidation, that even if Rosas had
uttered his cry of " Confederation or Death ! " in good
faith, lie would have ended with tJie consolidated sys-
tem which is now established. Our desire, however,
should be for union in civilization, and in liberty, while
there has been given us only union in barbarism and
in elaveiy. But a time will come when business will
take its legitimate course. What it now concerns us
to know is, that the progress of civilization must culmi-
nate only in Buenos Ayres ; the pampa is a very bad

AN DNBROKEN COUNTEY. 7

medium of transmission and distribution througli the
provinces, and we are now about to see what is the
result of this condition of things.

But above all the peculiarities of special portions of
the country, tiiere predominates one general, uniform,
and constant character. Whether tlie soil is covered
with the luxuriant and colossal vegetation of the tropics,
or stunted, thorny, and unsightly shrubs bear witness
to the scanty moisture which sustains them ; or whether
finally the pampa displays its open and monotonous
level, the surface of the countrj' is generally flat and
unbroken — the mountain groups of San Luis and
Coi-dova in tiie centre, and some projecting spurs of the
Andes toward the north, being scarcely an interrup-
tion to this boundless continuity.

We have, in this fact, a new element calculated to
consolidate the nation which is hereafter to occupy
these great solitudes, for it is well known that moun-
tains and other natural obstacles interposed between
different districts, keep up the isolation and the primi-
tive peculiarities of their inhabitants. North America
is destined to be a federation, not so much because its
first settlements were independent of each other, as on
account of the length of its Atlantic coast, and the
various routes to the interior afforded by the St. Law-
rence in the north, the Mississippi in the south, and the
immense system of canals in the centre. The Argen-
tine Republic is " one and indivisible."

Many philosophers haye also thought that plains pre-
pare the way for despotism, just as mountains furnish
strongholds for the struggles of liberty. The boundless
plain which permits the unobstructed passage of large

.-/

8 LIFE IN THE ARGENTINE REPDBLIC.

and weighty wagons by routes upon which the hand
of man has only been required to cut away ft few trees
and thickets, and which extend from Salta to Buenos
Ajres, and thence to Mendoza, a distance of more than
seven hundred leagues, constitutes one of the most
noteworthy features of the internal conformation of the
Republic. The exertions of the individual, aided by
what rude nature has done already, sufiice to provide
ways and means of communication ; if art shall offer
its assistance, if the forces of society shall, attempt to
supply the strength lacking in the individual, the co-
lossal dimensions of the work will repel the most enter-
prising, and insufficiency of labor will be an obstacle.
Thus in the matter of roads, untamed nature will long
have control, and the action of civilization will con-
tinue weak and inoperative.

"Moreover, these outstretched plains impart to the
life of the interior a certain Asiatic coloring, which we
may even call very decided. I have often mechani-
cally saluted the moon, as it rose calmlv and brightly,
with these words of Volney in his description of the
Ruins : " La pleine lune k I'Orient s'^l^vait sur un
fond bleu&tre aux plaines rives de I'Euphrate." There
is* something in the wilds of the Argentine territory
which brings to mind the wilds of Asia ; the imagina-
tion discovers a likeness between the pampa and the
plains lying between the Euphrates and the Tigris;
Bome affinity between the lonely line of wagons which
crosses -our wastes, arriving at Euenoa Ayres after a
journey lasting for jaonths. and the caravan of camels
which takes its way toward Bagdad or Smyi-na. The
wagons which make such journeys among us, consti-

JCHE RULE OF THE STRONGEST. 9

tnte, SO to speak, squadrons of little barks, the crewa of
which have a peculiar dcess, dialect, and set of customs,
whicii distinpuiah them from their fellow-countrymen,
just as the sailor differs from the landsman. The head
of each party is a military leader, like the chief of an
Asiatic caravan ; this position can be filled only by a
man of iron will, and daring to the verge of rashness,
that he may hold in check the audacity and turbulence
of the land pirates who are to be directed and ruled
by himself alone, for no help can be summoned in the
desert. On the least symptom of insubordination, the
captain raises his iron chicote, and delivers upon the
mutineer blows which make contusions and wounds ;
if the resistance is prolonged, before resorting to his
pistols, the help of which he generally scorns, he leaps
from his horse, grasps his formidable knife, and quickly
reestablishes his authority by his superior skill in
handling it. If any one loses hia'^iife under such disci-
pline, the leader is not answerable for the assassination,
whicli is regarded as an exercise of legitimate authority.

From these characteristics arises in the life of tfie "S
Argentine people the reign of brute force, the suprem- f
acy of the strongest, the absolute and irresponsible (
authority of rulers, the administration of justice with- :
out formalities or discussion. The caravan of wagons!
is provided, moreover, with one or two guns to each
wagon, and sometimes the leading one has a small
piece of artillery on a swivel. If the train is attacked
by the savages, the wagons are tied together in a ring,
and a successful resistance is almost always opposed to
the blood-thirsty and rapacious plunder of the assail-
ants. X)efenselcs3 droves of pack-mules often fall into

LIFE la THE ABGENTRiE BEPCBUa

the binds of these American Bedoams and muleteers
frarely escape with iheir lives. In these long journeys,
1 the lower classes of the Argentine population acquire
I the habit of living far from society, of straggling single-
I handed with nature, of disregarding privation, and of
depending for protection against the dangers ever im-
minent upon no other resources than personal strength
' ^ and skill.

The people who inhabit these extensive districts,
belong to two different races, the Spanish and the
native ; the combinations of which form a series of im-
p3rceptible gradations. The pure Spanish race pre-
dominates in the rural districts of Cordova and San
Luis, where it is common to meet young shepherdesses
fair and rosy, and as beautiful as ibe belles of a cnpital
could wish to be. In Santiago del Estero, the bulk of
the rural population stitl speaks the Quicliua dialect,
which plainly shows its Indian origin. The country
people of Corrientes use a very prelty Spanish dialect.
*' Dauif . general, una chiripii," said his soldiers to La-
valle. Tlie Andalusian soldier may still be recog-
nized in the rural districts of Buenos Ayres ; and in
the cily foreign surnames are the most numerous. The
negro race, by this time nearly extinct (except in
Buenos Ayres), has left, in its zambos and mulattoes,
a link which connects civilized man with the denizen
of the woods. This race mostly inhabiting cities, has
a tendency to become civilized, and possesses talent and
the finest instincts of progress.

Wilh these reservations, a homogeneous whole has
j resulted from the fusion of the three above-named
( families. It is characterized by love of idleness and

NATIVE INDOLENCE. H

incapacity for industry, except when education and the
exigencies of a social position succeed in spurrinp it out
of its customary pace. To a great extent, this unfor-
tunate result is owing to tlie incoi-poralion of the native
tribes, effected by the process of colonisation. The
.Ajoerican aborigines live in idleness, and show them-
Belves incapable, even under compulsion, of hard and
protracted labor. This suggesled the idea of introdu-
cing negroes into America, which lias produced such
fatal results. But the Spanish race has not shown
itself more energetic tlinn the aborigines, when it has
been left to its own instincts in the wilds of America.
Pity and shame are excited by the comparison of one
of the German or Scotch colonies in the southern part
of Birenos Ayres and some towns of the interior of the
Argentine Republic ; in the former the cottages are
painted, the front-yards always neatlykept and adorned
with flowers and pretty shrubs ; the furniture simple
but complete ; copper or tin utensils always bright and
clean ; nicely curtained beds ; and the occupants of the
dwelling are always industriously at work. Some such
families have retired to enjoy the conveniences of city
life, with great fortunes gained by their previous tabors
in milking their cows, and making butter and cheese.
The town inhabited by natives of the country, pre^
sents a picture entirely the reverse. There, dirty and
ragged children live, with a menagerie of dogs ; there,
men lie about in utter idleness ; neglect and poverty
prevail everywhere ; a table and some baskets are the
only furniture of wretched huts remarkable for their
general aspect of barbarism and carelessness.

TEii wretclied manner of life of a people already on

LIFE IK THE AKOEHTINE BSPUBLIC.

the decrease, and belonging to the pastoral districts,
doubtless gave rise to the words which spite and the
htimiliation of the English arras drew from Sir Walter
Scott: "The vast plains of Buenos Ay res," he says,
inhabited only by Christian savages known as
Guachos " (gauchos, he should have said), " whose
fiimiture is chiefly composed of horses' skulls, whose
food is raw beef and water, and whose favorite pastime
is running horses to death. Unfortunately," adds the
good foreigner, " they prefer their national independ-
ence to our cottons and muslins." ^

It would be well to ask England to say at a venture
how many yards of linen and pieces of muslin she
would give to own these plains of Buenos Ayres I

Upon the boundless expanse above described stand
scattered here and there fourteen cities, each the capi-
tal of a province. The obvious method of arranging
their names would be to classify them according to
their geographical position : Buenos Ayres, Santa F6,
Entre Rios, and Corrientes, on the banks of the Para-
na ; Mendoza, San Juan, Kioja, Catamaiva, Tucuman,
Salta, and Jujui, being on a line nearly parallel to the
Chilian Andes ; with Santiago, San Luis, and Cor-
dova, in the centre. But this manner of enumerating
the Argentine towns has no connection with any of the
social results which I have in view. A classification
adapted to my purpose must originate in tlie ways of
life pursued bj' the countrj' people, for it is this which
determines their character and spirit. I have stated
above that the proximity of the rivers makes no differ-
ence in this respect, because the extent to which they
1 Lift of Sapeltm Bonopartt, toI. li., chmp. 1.

CIVILIZATION BY CITIES.

nre navigated is so trifling as to be witiiout iiiiluence
«l)on the peo]>le.

AH lilt; Arpontiiie provr

nces. exrept San Juan and

MeiitluKa, depend on the

products of pastoral life ;

Tucuniun avails itself of agriculture also, and Buenos
Aj'res, besides raising millions o f cattle and sliecp, de-
votes itself to the numerous and diversified occupations
of civilized life.

The Argentine cities, like almost all the cities of
South America, have an appearance of regularity.
Their streets ai-e laid out at right angles, and their
population scattered over a wide surface, except in
Cordova, which occupies a narrow and confined posi-
tion, antl presents all tlie appearance of a European
city, tiie resemblance being increased by the multitude
of towers and domes attached to its numerous and
magnificent churches. All civilization, whether native,
Spanish, or European, centres in the cities, where are
to be I'ound the man ulac tori es, the shops, the schools
and colleges, and other characteristics of civilized na-
tions. Elegance of style, articles of luxur)', dress-coats,
and frock-coats, with other European garments, oc-
cupy their appropriate place in these towns. I mention
these small matters designedly. It is sometimes the
case that the only city of a pastoral provhice is its cap-
ital, and occasionally the land is uncultivated up to its
very streets. The encircling desert besets such cities
at a greater or less distance, and bears heavily upon
them, and they are thus small oases of civilization sur-
rounded by an untilled plain, hundreds of square miles
in extent, the surface of which is but rarely mteri'upted
by any settlement of consequence.

14 LIFE IN THE ARGENTISE BEPDBLIC.

The cities of Buenos Ayres and Cordova tiave suc-
ceeded better tlian the others in eatabhshinr; about them
subordinate towns to serve as new foci of civilization
and municipal interests ; a fact wliicli deserves notice.
[The inhabitants of the city wear the European dress,
I live in a rivilized manner, and possess laws, ideas of
1 progress, means of instruction, some munici[>al organi-
[ zation. regular forms of government, etc. Beyond the
precincts of the city eveiTthing assumes a new aspect;
the conntry people wear a different dress, nliicli I will
call South American, a; it is common to all districts;
their habits of life are different, their wants peculiar
and limited. The people composing these two distinct
tbrms of society, do not seem to belong to the same
nation. Moreover, the countryman, far from attempt-
ing to imitate the customs of the city, rejects with dis-
dain its luxury and refinement ; and it is unsafe for the
costume of the city people, their coats, their cloaks,
their saddles, or anything European, to show them-
selves in t!ie country. Everything civilized which die
city contains is blockaded there, proscribed beyond its
limit s ; and any one who should dare to appear in the
rural districts in a frock-coat, for example, or mounted
on an'Engtrsh saddle, would bring ridicule and brutal
assaults upon himself.

The whole remaining population inhabit the open
country, which, whether wooded or destitute of the
larger plants, is generally level, and almost everywhere
occupied by pastures, in some places of such abun-
dance and excellence, that the grass of an artificial
meadow would not surpass them. Mendoza, and
especially San Juan, are exceptions to this general

AHERICAX BEDODtNS.

absence of tilled fields, the p-oplu here depending
chiefly on the products of agriculture. Everywhere
else, pasturaf^ being plenty, the means of subsistence
of the inhabitants — 'or we cannot call it their occu-
pation — is stock-raising. Pastoral life reminds ua of
the Asiatic plains, ^/hich imagination covers with
Kalmuck, Cossack, or Arab tents. Tlie primitive life
of nations — a life essentially barbarous and unpro-
gressive — the life of Abraham, which is that of the
Sedouin of to-day, prevails in the Argentine plains,
although modified in a peculiar manner by civilization. '
The Arab Uibe which wanders through the wilds of j
Asia, is united under the rule of one of its elders or of
a warrior chief; society exists, although not fixed hr"
any determined locahty. Its religious opinions, im-
memorial traditions, unchanging customs, and its sen-
timent of respect for the aged, make altogether a code
of laws and a form of government which preserves
morality, as it is there understood, as well as order and "iift"
the association of the tribe. But progress is impossi' \/^jf-^
hie, because there can be no progress without perma- 1™*'^"
nent possession of the soil, or without cities, which are
the means of developing the capacity of man for the '
processes of industry, and which enable him to extend

his acquisitions.

Nomad tribes do not.exist in tb^ Argentiue plains ;
the stock-raiser is a proprietor, living upon his own
land ; but this condition renders association impossibls,
and tends to scatter separate families over an immense
extent of surface. Imagine an expanse of two thou-
sand square leagues, inhabited throughout, but where
the dwellings are usually four or even eight leagues

16 LIFE IN THE ABGENTINE BEPOBLIC.

Span, and two leagues, at least, separate the nearest
neighbors. The production of movable properly is not
impossible, the enjoyments u? luxury are not wholly
incompatible with this isolation ; wealth can raise a
superb edifice in the desert. But the inc entiv e is
wanting ; no example is near > the inducements for
making a great display which exist in a cily, are not
known in that isolation and solitude. Inevitable pri-
j vations justify natural indolence ; a dearth of all the.
amenities of life induces all the externals of-haFbansm.
Society has altogether disappeared. There is but the '
isolated self-concentrated feudal family. Since th^ere ia^
no collected society, no government is possible ; there
is neither municipal nor executive power, and civil
justice has no means of reaching criminals. I doubt
if the modem world presents any other form of associ-
ation so monstrous as this. It is the exact opposite of
the Roman municipality, where all the population were
assembled within an inclosed space, and went from it
to cultivate the surrounding fields. The consequence
of this was a strong social organization, tlie good results
of which have prepared the way for modern civiliza-
tion. The Argentine system resembles the old Slavo-
nic Sloboda, with the djfierence that the latter was
agricultural, and therefore more susceptible of govern-
ment, while the dispersion of the population was not
so great as in South America. It differs from the ,
nomad tribes in admitting of no social reunion, and in
a permanent occupation of the soil. Lastly, it has
sometliing in common with the feudal system of the
Middle Ages, when the barons lived in their strong-
holds, and thence made war on the cities, and laid

SOCUL ASPECTS.

waste the country in the vicinity ; but the baron and
the feudal castle are wanting. If power starts up in
the country, it lasts only for a moment, and is demo-
cratic ; it is not inherited, nor can it maintain itself,
for want of mountains and strong positions. It follows
from tliis, that even the savage tribe of the pampas is
better organized for moral development than are our
country districts.

But tlte remar k able featu re of this society, viewed
in its social aspect, is its affinity to the hfe of the an-
cients — to the life of the Spartans or Romans; but
again a radical dissimilarity appears when the subject
is considered from another side. The free citizen of
' Sparta or of Rome threw upon his slaves the weight
of material life, the care of providing lor his subsist-
ence, while he lived, free from such cares, in the forum
or in the. public place of assembly, exclusively occupied
with the interests of the State — peace, war, and pai'ty
contests. The stock-raiser has his share of the same
advantages, and his herds fulfill the degrading office of
the ancient Helot. Their spontaneous multiplication
constitutes and indefinitely augments his fortune ; the
help of man is superfluous ; Ins labor, his intttlligence,
his time, are not needed to the preservation and in-
crease of the means of lift'. But though he needs none
of these forces for the supply of his physical wants, he
is unable to make use of them, when thus saved, as
the Roman did. He has no city, no municipality, no
intimate associations, and thus the basis of all social
development is wanting. As the land-owners are not
brought together, they have no public wants to satisfy ;
in a word, there is no re» pvhlica.

LIFE IN THE ARGENTINE REPDBUC.

Moral progress, and the cultivation of the intellect,
are here not only neglected, as in the Arab or Tartar
tribe, but impossible. Where can a school be placed
for the instruction of children^ living ten leagues apart
in all directions ? Thus, consequently, civilization can
in no way be brought about. Barbarism is the noonal
condition,' and it is fortunate if domestic customs pre-
ser ve a small germ of morality- Religion feels the
consequences of this want of social organization. The
offices of the pastor are nominal, the pulpit has no
audience, the priest flees from the deserted cliapel, or
allows his character to deteriorate in inactivity and
solitude. Vice, simony, and the prevalent barbarism
penetrate his cell, and change his moral superiority
into the means of gratifying his avarice or ambition,
and he ends by becoming a party leader. I once wit-
nessed a scene of rural life worthy of the primitive
ages of tlie world, which preceded the institution of
the priesthood. In 1838 I liappened to be in the
Sierra de San Luis, at the house of a proprietor whose
two favorite occupations were saying prayei-s and
gambling. He had built a chapel where he used to
pray through the rosary on Sunday afternoons, to
supply the want of a priest, and of the public divine
service of which the place had been destitute for many
years. It was a Homeric picture : the sun declining
to the west ; the sheep returning to the fold, and rend-
ing the air with their confused bleatings ; the service
conducted by the master of the house, a man of sixty.

1 In 18a«, during
tilt It of readiog (
whom WM twentj.l

I veu'i rstjdeiice at th« Sierra de San Lui), I liogbt
I Hx joung people of good famUiea, Uie yoBngcat ol
to year* old.

EELIGIODS ASPECTS.

with a. noble countenance, in which the pure European
race was evident in the white skin, blue eyes, and wide
and open forehead ; while the responses were made
by a dozen women and some young men, whose imper-
fectly broken horses were fastened near tlie door of the
chapel. After finishing the rosary, he fervently oJTered
up his own petitions. I never heard a voice fuller of
pious feeling, nor a prayer of purer warmth, of firmer
faith, of greater beauty, or better adapted to the cir-
cumstances, than that which he uttered. In this
prayer he besouglit God to grant rain for the fields,
fruitfulness for the herds and flocks, peace for the Re-
pubhc, and safety for all wayfarers. I readily shed
tears, and wept even with sobs, for the religious senti-
ment had been awakened in my soul to intensity, and
like an unknown sensation, for I nerer witnessed a
more religious scene. I seemed to be living in the
times of Abraham, in his presence, in that of God, and
of the nature which reveals Hiui. The voice of that
sincere and pure-minded man made all my nerves vi-
brate, and penetrated to my inmost soul. _
To this, that is, to uatui'al religion, is all religion
reduced in the pastoral districts. Christianity exists,
like the Spanish idioms, as a tradition which is perpet-
uated, but corrupted ; colored by gross superstitions i
and unaided by instruction, ntes, or convictions. It is \
the case in almost all the districts which are remote
from the cities, that when traders from San Juan or
Mendoza arrive there, three or four children, some
months or a year old, are presented to them fur bap-
tism, confidence being felt that their good education
will enable them to administer the rite in a valid man-

20 LIFE IS THE ARGENTINE REPnULIC.

ner ; and on the arrival of a priest, young men old
enough to break g cult, present themselves to him to
be anointed and have baptism sub conditions adminis-
tered to them.

f ' In the absence of all the means of civilization and

I progress, which can only be developed among men
^oilect«d into societies of many individuals, t\\^ educa-
^ tjon of the country people is as follows: The women look

■ after the house, get the meals ready, shear the sheep,
milk the cows, make the cheese, and weave the coarse
cloth used for garments. All domestic occupations are
performed by women ; on them rests the burden of all
the labor, and it is an exceptional favor when some of
the men undertake tbe cultivation of a little maize,
bread not being in use as an ordinary article of diet.
The boys exercise their strength and amuse tliemselves
by gaining skill in the use of the lasso and the bolas,
with which tliey constantly harass and pursue the
calves and goats. When they can ride, which is as
soon as they have learned to walk, they perform some
small services on horseback. When they become
stronger, they race over tbe country, falling off their
horses and getting up again, tumbling on purpose into
rabbit ^ burrows, scrambling over precipices, and prac-
ticing feats of horsemanship. On reaching puberty,
they take to breaking wild colts, and death is the least
penalty that awaits them if their strength or courage
fails them for a moment. With early manhood comes
complete independence and idleness.

~~" Now begins the public life of the gaucho, as I may
say, since his education is by this time at an end.

GAUCHO THAITS.

These men, Spaniards only in their language and in
the confused religious notions preserved among them,
must be seen, before a right estimate can be made of
the indomitable and haughty character which grows
out of this struggle of isolated man with nntamed
nature, of the rational being with the brute. It is
neceasarj' to see their visages bristling with beards, ^
their countenances as grave and serious as those of the
Arabs of Asia, to appreciate the pitying scom witiij
which they look upon the sedentary denizen of the j
city, who may have read many books, but who cannot [
overthrow and slay a fierce bull, who could not p ro- (
vide himself with a horse from the pampas, who has
never met a tiger alone, and received him with a dag-
ger in one hand and a poncho rolled up in the other,
to be thrust into the animal's mouth, whQe he trans-
fixes his heart with his dagger. _
This habit of triumphing over resistance, of con- [
Btantly showing a superiority to Nature, of deij'ing and '
subduing her, prodigiously develops the consciousness
of individual consequence and superior prowess. The
Argentine people of every class, civilized and ignorant
alike, have a high opinion of their national importance.
All the other people of South America throw tfiia
vanity of tlieirs in their teeth, and take offense at their
presumption and arrogance. I believe the charge not
to be wholly unfounded, but I do not object to the
trait. Alas, for the nation without faith in itself I
Great things were not made for such a people. To
what extent may not the independence of that part of
America be due to the arrogance of these ArgenUne
gauchos, who have never seen anything beneath the

^
^

r^'

22 LIFE IN THE ABGENTINE REPUBLIC,

[sun superior to themselves in wisdom or in power?
The European is in their eyes the most contemptible
I of all men, for a horse gets the better of him in a
j couple of plunges.*

h^Tf the origin of this national vanity among the lower
^ classes is despicable, it has none the less on that ac-
. / count some noble results ; as the water of a river ia no
UeBs pure for the mire and pollution of its sources. Im-
I placable is the hatred which these people feel for men
/ of refinement, whose garments, manners, and customs,
Ljhey regard with invincible repugnance. Such is the
material of the Argentine soldierj-, and it may easily bo
imagined what valor and endurance in war are the con-
sequences of the habits described above. We may
add that these soldiers have been used to slaughtering
cattle from their childhood, and that this act of neces-
sary cruelty makes them familiar with bloodshed, and
hardens their hearts against the groans of their vic-
tims.
r~ Country life, then, has developed all the j>hysical
[but _n!aie_-Df the intellectual powers of the gaucho.
iHis moral character is of the quality to be expected
I from his habit of triumphing over the obstacles and the
(forces of nature ; it is strong, haughty, and energetic.
W^ilhout instruction, and indeed without need of any,
without means of support as without wants, he is happy
in the midst of his poverty and privations, which are
not such to one who never knew nor wished for greater
pleasures than are his already. Thus if the disorgani-

1 General Mantilla uid. in a pubJic meelinK during Ihe French block-
ad*. " WbM hara wt lo apprehend from thtMe Eurapeana, vho are not
equal to one aight'i gallop? " and Ihe vaat plebeian audience drowned
the ipokkar'a voice wiUithuDden or appUiuc.

SOURCES OF WEALTH. 23

zatjon of Horiety among the gauchos deeply implants
barbarism_jn^7tHeir natures, through the impossibility
and uselessness of moral and intellectual education, it \
has, too, its attractive side to him. The gaucho does not )
labor; lie finds his food and raiment ready to his hand.
If he is a proprietor, his own flocks yield him both ; if
he possesses nothing himself, he finds them in the house
of a patron or a relation. The necessary care of the
herds is reduced to excursions and pleasure parties;
the branding, which is like the harvesting of ^rmers,
is a festival, the arrival of which is received with trans-
ports of joy, being the occasion of the assembling of
all tlie men for twenty leagues around, and the oppor-
tunity for displaying incredible fikii) with the lasso.
The gaucho arrives at the spot on his best steed, riding
at a slow and measured pace ; he halts at a httJe dis-
tance and puts his leg over his horse's neck to enjoy
the sight leisurely. If enthusiasm seizes him, he slowly
dismounts, uncoils his lasso, and flings it at some bull,
passing like a flash of lightning forty paces from hira ;
he catches him by one hoof, as be intended, and quietly
coils his leather cord again.

CHAPTER 11.

OKIOnUkLITT AKD PECtltlARITIES '
PEOPLE.

TBE ^.B^EKTIKB

Jh BGbpih nmplfifent Tvflprlt dv

Imnl le I'lntnl."—

FiDpu Oil till mind wlUi Ua imimnlan of tha ii

Tf from the conditions of fastoraTH^ such as colo-
nization and neglect have constituted it, rise serious
obstacles in the way of creating any political organiza-
tion, and much more for the introduction of European
oivihzation and institutions, as well as their natural
i-esulte, wealth, and liberty, it cannot be denied, on the
other hand, that this state ~of things has its poetic
side, and possesses aspects worthy of tlie pen of the
romanc^er^ If any form of national literature shall
appear in these new American societies, it must result
from the description of tlie mighty scenes of nature,'
and still more from the illustration of the struggle
between European civilizaTTori and native barbarism,
between mind and matter — a struggle of imposing
magnitude in South America, and which suggests
scenes so peculiar, so characteristic, and so far outside
the circle of ideas in which the European mind has
been educated, that their dramatic relations i^'ould be
unrecognized machinery, except in the country in
which they are found.

POETIC CHARACTER.

The only North American noyehst who has gained
a European reputation is CFenimorp Coo ^r^ and he
succeeded in doing so by removing the scene of the
events he described from tlie settled portion of the
country to the border land between civilized lifft and
that of the savage, the theatre of the war for the pos-
session o? the soil waged against each other, by the
native tribes and the Saxon race-
It was in this manner that our young poet Eche-
varria succeeded in attracting the attention of the
literary world of Spain by his poem entitled " The
Captive." The subjects of " Dido and Argea " which
his predecessors the Varelas had treated with classic
art and poetic fire, but without success and ineffect-
ively, because tliey added nothing to the stock of
European ideas, were abandoned by this Argentine
bard, who turned his eyes to the desert. In. its
immeasurable and boundless spaces, in its wastes
traversed by wandering savages, in the distant belt
of flame which the traveller sees approaching when a
fire has broken out upon the plains, he found the in-
spiration derived by the imagination from tlie sight of
such natural scenery as is solemn, imposing, unusual,
and mysterious ; and from this the echo of his verses
resounded, and was applauded even in the Spanish
Feninaula.

A fact which explains many of the social phenom-
ena of nations deserves a passing notice. The natural
peculiarities of any region give rise to customs and
practices of a corresponding peculiarity, so that where .
the same circumstances reappear, we find the same
means of controlling them invented by different nations.

26 LIFE IN THE AKGENTIKE EEPDBLIC.

Thus, in my opinion, is to be explained the use of bows
and arrows among all savage nations, whatever may be
their race, their origin, and their geographical position.
When I came to the passage in Cooper's " Last of the
Mohicans," where Hawkeye and Uncas lose the trail
of the Mingos in a brook, I said to myself: " They
will dam up the brook." When the trapper in " The
Prairie" waits in irresolute anxiety while" the fire is
threatening 'him and his companions, an Argentine
would have recommended the same plan which the
trapper finally proposes, — that of clearing a space for
immediate protection, and setting a new fire, so as to
be able to retire upon the ground over which it had
passed beyond the reach of the approaching flames.
Such is the practice of those who cross the pampa
when they are in danger from fires in the grass.

When the fugitives in " The Prairie " arrive at a
river, and Cooper describes the mysterious way in which
the Pawnee gathers together the buffalo's hide, " he is
making n pelota," said I to myself, — "it Js a pity there
is no woman to tow it," — for among us it is the women
who tow pelotat across rivers with lassos held between
their teeth. The way in which a buffalo's head is
roasted in the desert is the same which we use for
cooking ' a cow's head or a loin of veal. I omit many
other facts which prove the truth that analogies in the
soil bring with them analogous customs, resources,
and expedients. This explains our finding in Cooper's
works accounts of practices and customs which seem
plagiarized from the pampa ; thus, too, we find repro-
duced among Ameriean- herdsmen, the serious coun-

POETIC CHiRACTER. 27

tenancG, the hospitality, and the very garments of the
Arab.

The country consequently derives a fund of poetry
from its natural circumstances and the special customs
resniting from them. To arouse tlie poeti c sense
(whi ch, like religious fe«ling, is a faculty of the human
mind), we need the sight of beauty, of terrible power,
Ot immensity of extent, of something vague and in-
comB^ hepsible ; for the fables of the imagination, the
ideal world^begin only where the actual and tlie com-
monplace gn d.

~"~Now, I inquire, what impressions must be made
npon the inhabitant of the Argentine Republic by the
simple act of fixing his eyes upon the horizon, and see-
ing nothing ? -^ for the deeper liis gaze sinks into that
shifting, hazy, undefined horizon, the farther it with-
draws from him, the more it fascinates and confuses
him, and plunges him in contemplation and doubt._^
What is the end of that world which he vainly seeks
to penetrate? He knows not! What is there be-
yond what he sees? The wilderness, danger, the
savage, death ! Here is poetry already ; he who
moves among such scenes is assailed by fantastic
doubts and tears, by dreams which possess his waking
hoars.

Hence it follows that the disposition and natare of
the Argentin e 26gplfHU'SLI>Qetic. How can such feel-
mgs fait to e^ist, when a black storm-cloud rises, no
one knows whence, in the midst of a calm, pleasant
afternoon, and spreads over the sky before a word Can
be uttered ? The traveller shudders as the crashing
thunder announces the tempest, and holds liia breath

28 LIFE IN THE ARGENTINE REPDBLIC.

in the fear of bringing upon himself one of the thousand
bolts which flash around Iirm, The hght is followed
by thick darkness ; death is on every side ; a fearful
and irresistible power has instantaneously driven the
soul back upon itself, a nd made it feel its nothingnes s
in the midst of angry nature ; ma()e it feel God him-
self in the terrible magnificei ^ ot his works . What
^more ooloring~coilld'the'5fusirof fancy need ? Masses
of darkness which obscure the sun ; masses of tremu-
lous livid light which shine through the darkness fur an
instant and bring to view far distant portions of the
pampa, across which suddenly dart vivid lightnings,
r symbols of irresistible power. These images must
remain deeply engraved on the soul. When the storm
passes by, it leaves the gaucho sad, thoughtful, and
serious, and the alternation of hght and darkness con-
tinues in his Imagination, as the disk of the sun long
remains upon the retina af^er we have been looking at
it fixedly.

Ask the gaucho, "Whom does the lightning prefer to
Kill ? " and he will lead you into a world of moral and
jy religious fancies, mingled with ill-understood facta of
nature, and with superstitious and vulgar traditions.
"we may add that if it is certain that the electric fluid
enters Into the economy of human life and is tlie same
as the so-called nervous fluid, the excitement of which
rouses the passions and kindles enthusiasm, imagina-
tive exertion ought to be well suited to the temper of
a people living under an atmosphere so highly charged
with electricity that one's clothes sparkle when rubbed,
like a cat's fiir stroked the wrong way.

POETIC CHARACTER. 29

How can he be otherwise than a poet who witnesses
these impressive scenes ?

Su iamciuidia, i do encaentn

Li viiU en >a vivo aohelo

Dd fiJBT la fugai ratio,

Conio el p^iiro ea la out.

Doquier campo i heredidei

Del ave i brulo guaridu;

Doquiar cielo i loledadei

De Dial >olo conoddaa,

Que tl solo pnede wmdear." — EdUmrria.

Or he who thus sees Nature in her gala dress?

"De las entranai de Am^iica

boa nudalea aa deulan;

El Pantii, fax de perlu,

d Vm

i, Taz de i

Loi dot eotre boiquF
entrt floridu bamacai,
Como dot grandu eap^os
EoCre mircoB de aamenldai.
Saludanlm en an pau
La metanc6lica pava,
£1 picaflor i jilgnero,
El Eorul i la torcaia.
Como ante re.vei le iDcliaan
Ante ellaa seiboi i paltais,

I 1(

Tojan

Aroms i flor de naruija.

1 reuniendo aui aguw,

Meiclando n^car i perlai,

Se derraman en el Plata." — Dommgua.

But this is cultivated poetry, the poetry of the city. '
There is another poetry which echoes over the solitary
plfuns — the popular, natural, and irregular poetry of
the gaucho.

Music, too, is found among oar people. It is a '
uatioiial taste recognized by all our neighbors. When

LIFE IN THfi ARGENTINE .REPDBLtC.

an Argentine is first introduced to a Christian family,
they at once invite him to the piano, of band him a
guitar, and if he excuses himself on the ground that
he does not know how to play, they express wonder
and incredulity, saying, " An Argentine, and not
understand music ! " This general supposition bears
witness to our national habits. It is the fact, that the
yjsung city people of the better classes, play tlie piano,
flute,violin, or guitar: the half-breeds devote themselves
almost wholly to music, and many skillful composers
and players have sprung up among them. Guitars are
constantly heard at the shop-doors on summer even-
ings ; and late in the night, one's sleep is pleasantly
disturbed by serenades and peripatetic concerts.

The country people have songs peculiar to them-
selves. The "Ariste," prevalent among the people of
the northern districts, is a fugue melody expressive
of lamentation, such as Rousseau considers natural to
man in his primitive state of barbarism.

The " Vidalita " is a popular «ong witli a chorus,
accompanied by the guitar and tabor, in the refrain of
which the bystanders join, and the number and volume
of the voices increase. I suppose this melody origi-
nated with the aborigines, for I once heard it at an
Indian festival at Copiaptf, held to celebrate Candle-
mas, As a religious song it must be very old, and the
Indians of Chili can hardly have adopted it &om the
Spaniards of the Argentine Republic.
**^ The " Vidalita " is the popular measure for songs
about the topics of the day, or for warlike odes ; the
gauchos compose the words which they sing, and trust
to tlie associations which, the song arouses, to make

MDSICAL CHARACTER. 31

them understood by the people. Thus, then, amidst
the rudeness of the national customs, Jwo iirts whic h
erSBellisli civilized life and give veut to many generous "'^ V/
— passions, are honored and favored, even by the lowest ^^y^
""classes, who exercise their uncultured genius in Jyrical
Tnd^Joelic composition.

In 1840, Echevarria, then a young man, lived some
months in the country, where the fame of Ins verses
upon the pampa had already preceded him ; the gau-
chos surrounded him with respect and affection, and
when a new-comer showed symptoms of the scorn he
felt for the little minstrel,^ some one whispered, "He
IB a poet," and that word dispelled every prejudice.

It is well known that the guitar is the popular ih-
Btrument of the Spanish race ; it is also common in
South America. The majo or troubadour, the type of
a large class of Spaniards, is still found there, and in
Buenos Ayres especially. He is discoverable in the
gaucho of the country', and in the townsman of the
same class. The cielito, the dance of the pampas, is
animated by the same spirit as the Spanish jaleo, the
dance of Andalusia ; the dancer makes castanets of his
fingers ;'all his movements disclose the majo ; the action
of his shoulders, his gestures, alt his ways, from that in
which he puts on his bat, to his style of spitting through
his teeth, all are of the pure Andalusian type.

From these general customs and tastes are developed
remarkably peculiarities, which will hereafter embellish
the national dramas and romances, and give them an
original shade of color. I propose at present only to
notice a few of these special developments, in order to

1 Cajettija, Ultlc Diulcal bos.

32 LtFE IN THE ABGEXTINE EEPCBLIC.

complete the idea of the customs of the country, aod
so to explain subseqaently the natare, causes, and
effects of its civil wars.

TH£ BASTKEADOR.

"""The most conspicuous and extraordinary of_ilie oc-
cupations to be described, is that of th&.ilastreadoVor
I track-finder. All the gauchos of the interior are Ras-
[ptrea dores. In such extensive plains, where paths and
lines of travel cross each other iu all directions, and
where the pastures in which the herds feed are un-
fenced, it is necessary often to follow the tracks of an
animal, and to distinguish them among a thousand
others, and to know whether it was going at an easy
or a rapid pace, at liberty or led, laden or carr)-ing no
weight.

This is a generally understood branch of household
knowledge. I once happened to turn out of a by-way
into the Buenos Ayres road, and my guide, following
the usual practice, cast a look at the ground. " Tliere
was a very nice little Moorish mule in tliat train,"
said he, directly. " D. N. Zapata's it was — she is
good for the saddle, and it is very plaiu slie was-sad-
dled this time ; they went by yesterday." The man
was travelling from the Sierra de San Luis, while the
train had passed on its way from Buenos Ayres, and
it was a year since he had seen the Moorish mule,
whose track was mixed up with those of a, whole train
ill a path two feet wide. And this seemingly in-
credible tale only illustrates the common degree of
skill ; — the guide was a mere herdsman, and no pro-
fessional Kastreador.

THE HASTREADOR. 33

The Raatreadnr proper is a grave, circumspect per-
sonage, whose declarations are consideied conclusive a
evidence in the inferior conrts. Consciousness of the\ t'5^
knowledge he possesses, gives him a certain reservefl' ^ .
an^ mysterious dignity. Every one treats him with I \S
_jreapect ; the poor man because he fears to offend one / :^t^ '
who might injure him by a slander or an accusation ; I \ i^vj*'
and_the proprietor because of the possible value of his/ -^^
testim ony. A tbeft lias been committed during the/
night ; no one knows anything of it : the victims of it
hasten to look for one of the robber's fo')tprints, and on
finding it, they cover it with something to keep the
wind from disturbing it. They then send for th^ Ras-
treador, who detects the track and follows it, only occa-
sionally looking at the ground as if his eyes saw in full
relief the footsteps invisible to others. He fallows the
course of the streets, crosses gardens, enters a house,
and pointing to a man whom he finds there, says,
coldly, " That is he ! " The crime is pr ove d, and the I
criminal seldom denies the charge. In his estimation, /
"even more tlia n~jn ttiat of the judge, t!i^ .Easjreador's I
deposition is a positive demonstration; it would be/
frdicnlous and absurd to dispute it. The culprit ac-
cordingly yields to a witness whom he regards as the
finger of God pointing him out. I have had some
acquaintance myself with Calibar, who has practiced
his profession for forty consecutive years in one prov-
ince. He is now about eighty years old, and of vener-
able and dignified appearance, though bowed down by
age. When his fabulous reputation is mentioned to
him, he replies, "I am good for nothing now; there
■re the boys." The " boys,"' who have studied under

LIFE or THE ARGENTINE EEPDBLIC.

BO famous a master, are liis sons. The story is tliat
his best horse-trappings were once stolen while he was
absent on a journey to Buenos Ayres. His wife cov-
ered one of the thiePH footprints with a. tray. Two
months afterwards Calibar returned, looked at tlie foot-
print, which by that time had become blurred, and
could not have been made out bv other eves, after
whicli he spoke no more of the circumstance. A year
and a lialf later, Calibar might have been seen walking
through a street in the outskirts of the town with his
eyes on the ground. He turned into a house, where
he found his trappings, by that time blackened by use
and nearly worn out. He had come upon the trail of
the thief nearly two years after the robbery.

In 1830, a criminal under sentence of death having
escaped from prison, Calibar was employed to search
for him. The unhappy man, aware that he would be
tracked, had taken all the precautions suggested to
him by the image of the scaffold, but tliey were taken
in vain. Perhaps they only assured his destruction ;
for as Calibar's reputation was hazarded, his jealous
self-esteem made him ardent in accomplishing a task
whicli would demonstrate the wonderful sharpness of
his sight, though it insured the destruction of another
man. The fugitive had left as few traces as the nature
of the ground would permit; he had crossed whole
squares on tiptoe ; afterwards he had leaped upon low
walls ; he had turned back after crossing one place ;
but Cahbar followed without losing the tmil. If he
missed the way for a moment, he found it again, ex-
claiming, "Where are you?" Finally, the trail
entered a water-course in the suburbs, in which the

THE BAQUEANO. 85

fugitive had sought to elude tlie Rastreador, In vaiii 1
Calibar went along the bank without uneasiness or
hesitation. At last he stops, examines some plants,
and says, " He came out here ; there are no footprints,
but these drops of water on the herbage are the sign ! "
On coining to a vineyard, Calibar reconnoitered the
mud walls around it, and said, " He is in there." The
party of soldiers looked till they were tired, and came
back to report the iallure of tlie search. " He has not
come out," was the only answer of the Rastreador,
who would not even take the trouble to make a second
investigation. In fact, he had not come out, hut he
was taken and executed the next day.

In 18-jll, some political prisoners were plaiuiing an
escape ; all was ready, and outside help had been se-
cured. On the point of niakhig the attempt, " What
shall be done about Cahbar ? " said one. "To be
sure, Calibar I " said the others, in dismay. Tiieir
relations prevailed upon Calibar to be ill for lour full
days after tlie esca])e, which was thus without difficulty
effected.

What a mystery is this of the Rastreador ! What
microscopic power is developed in tiie visual organs of
these men ! How sublime a creature is that which
God made in his image and likeness '.

THE BAQUEAKO, OR PA.TH-F1SDER.

Next to the Rastreador comes the Biiqueano, a per-
sonage of distinction, and one who controls the fate of^
individuals and of provinces. The Baqueano is a
grave and reserved gaucho, who knows every span of
twenty thousand square leagues of plain, wood, and

LIFE IS THE ARGENTINE BEPDBLIC.

moantaiii ! He is tiie most tlioronnh Iopoj;rapher, the
only map wliich a general consults in directing the
movements of liis campaign. The Baqueano is always
at his side. Modest and mule as a garden-ivall, he is
in possession of evert' secret of the campaign ; the
fete of liie army, the issue of a battle, the conquest of

province, all depend upon him. The Baqueano
almost always discharges his duty with fidelity, bat
the general does not place fill! confidence in him.

Conceive the situation of a commander condemned
to be attended by a traitor, fi'om whom be has to
obtain the information without which he cannot suc-
ceed, A Baqueano finds a little path crossing the
road which he is following ; he knows to what distant
watering-place it leads. U lie finds a tiiousand auch
paths, some of them even a hundred leagues apart, he
is acquainted with each, and knows whence it comes
and whither it goes. He knows the hidden fords of a
hundred rivers and streams, above or below the ordi-
nary places of crossing. He can point out a convenient
path through a hundred distinct and extensive swamps.

In the deepest darkness of tiie nigiit, surrounded
by boundless plains or by forests, while his companions
are astray and at a loss, he rides round tiiem inspect-
ing the trees ; if liiere are none, he dismounts and
stoops to examine the shrubs, and satisfies himself of
his points of compass. He then mounts, and reassures
his party by saying, " We are in a straight line from
such ft place, so many leagues from the houses ; we
must travel southwards." And he sets out in the direc-
tion he has indicated, without uneasiness, without
hurrying to confiiTO his judgment by arriving at the

THE BAQDEAKO. 37

town, and without answering the objections suggested
to the others by (ear or bewilderment.

If even this is insufficient, or if he finds himself up^R
the panipa in impenetrable darkness, he pulls up herbs \
from different places, smells their roots and the earth I
about them, chews their foliage, and by often repeating
this proceeding, assures himself of the neighborhood of
some lake or stream, either of sail or of fresh water,
of which he avails himself, upon tinding it, to set him-
self exactly right. I t is said that General Rosas knows
thft ^aslurage of efery estate in the^south of Buenos
Ayr£s_ by ita taste.^

If tlie Baqueano belongs to the pampa, wher
roads exist, and a traveller asks him to show the way
straight to a place fifty leagues oS*, he pauses a moment,
reconnoitres the horizon, examines the ground, fixes
his eyes upon some point, and gallops off straight as
an arrow, until lie changes liis course for reasons known
only to himself, and keeps up his gallop day and night
till he arrives at the place named.

The Baqueano also announces the approach of the )
enemy ; liiat is, that they are within ten leagues ; and
he also detects the direction in which they are approach- \
ing by means of the movements of the osti'iches, deer, 1
and guanacos, which fly in certain directions. At_ '
shorter distances he notices the clouds of dust, and es-
timates the number of the hostile force by their densi^.
" They have two thousand men," he says ; " five hun-
dred," " two hundred ; " and the commander acta
upon this assumption, which i3_^niQat_aliv«ys infallible^
If the condors and crows are wheehng in circles through
the air, lie can tell whether there are troops hidden

38 I-IFE IN THE ARGENTINE REPUBUf!.

thereabouts, or whether a recently abandoned camp,
or simply a dead animal is the attractive object. The
Baqueano knows how far one place is from another,
the number of days and houra which the journey re-
quires, and besides, some unknown by-way through
which the passage may be made in half the time, bo as
to end in a surprise; and expeditions for the surprise
o^\Af towns fifty leagues away are thus undertaken, and
Q\\^v^ generally with success, by parties of peasants. This
may be thought an exaggeration. No ! General Ri-
vera, of the Banda Oriental, is a simple Baqueano, who
knows every tree that grows anywhere in the Republic
of Uruguay. The Brazilians would not have occupied
that country if he had not aided them ; nor, but for
hijn, would the Argentines have set it free.
■""^ This man, at once general and Baqueano, over-
powered Oribe, who was supported by Rosas, after a
contest of three years; and at the present day, were
he in the field against it, the whole power of Buenos
Ayres, with its numerous armies, which are spread all
over Uruguay, might gradually fade away by means of
a surprise to-dav, by a post cut off to-morrow, by some
victory which he could turn to his own advantage by
his knowledge of some route to the enemy's rear, or
by some other unnoticed or trifling circumstance.

General Rivera began his study of the ground in
1804, when making war upon the government as an
outlaw ; afterwards he waged war upon tlie outlaws as
a government officer ; next, upon the king as a patriot ;
and later upon the patriots as a peasant ; upon the
Argentines as a Brazilian chieftain ; and upon the
Bra^liaus, as an Argentine general ; upon Lavalleja,

THE GAUCHO OUTLAW. 39

as President ; upon President Oiibe, as a proscribed
chieftain; and, finally, upon Rosas, the ally of Oribe,
as a genera] of Uruguay ; in all wliich positions lie has
had abundance of time to learn something of the art
of the Baqueano.

THEIGACCHO OUTLAW.

The example of this type of character, to be foandl
in certain places, is an outlaw, a squatter, a kind of
misanthrope. He is Cooper's Hawkeve or Trapper,
with all the knowledge of the wilderness possessed by
the latter ; and with all his aversion to the settlements
of the whites, but without his natural morality or hia
friendly relations with the savages. The name of
gaucho outlaw is not applied to him wholly as an oiw'
complimentary epithet. The law has been for many
years in pursuit of him. His name is dreaded— ~
spoken under the breath , but not in hate, and almo st /
res pectfully. He is a my stgrJoas- personage iJiisjboile
i a the pnmpa ; his lodgings are the thistle fields; he
lives on partritlges and hedgehogs, nnd whenever litfTs-'
disposed to regale himself upon a tongue, he lassos a
cow, throws her without assistance, kills her, takes his
favorite morsel, and leaves the rest for the carrion
birds. Tlic gaucho outlaw will make his appearance
in a place just left by soldiers, will talk in a friendly
way yilh the admiring gro up of good gau chos aroun d
him ; provide himself with tobacco, verba mat€, which
makes a refreshing beverage, and if he discovers the
soldiers, he mounts his hoi-se quietly and directs his
steps leisurely to the wilderness, not even deigning to
look back. He is seldom pursued ; that would be

LIFE IN THE ARGENTINE REPUBLIC.

killing horses to no purpose, for the beast of the gaucho
outlaw is a bay courser, as noted in liis own way as
his master. If he ever happens to fall unawares into
the hands of the soldiers, he sets upon t))e densest masses
of his assailants, and breaks tlirougli tlienj, with the
help of a few slashes left by his knife upon the faces
or bodies of his opponents ; and lying along the ridge
of his horse's back to avoid the bullets sent afler him,
he hastens towards the wilderness, until, having left
his pursuers at a convenient distance, he pulls up and
travels at his ease. The poets of the vicinity add this
new exploit to the biography of the desert hero, and
his renown flies through all the vast region around.
Sometimes he appears before the scene of a rustic fes-
tival with a young woman whom he has carried off,
and takes a place in the dance with his partner, goes
through the figures of the cielito, and disappears, un-
noticed. Another day he brings the girl he has
seduced, to the house of her offended family, sets her
down from his horse's croup, and reckless of the
parents' curses by which be is followed, quietly betakes
himself to his boundless abode.

This white-skinned savage, al war with society and
proscribed by the laws, is no more depraved at heart
than the inhabitants of the settlements. The reckless
outlaw who attacks a whole troop, does no harm to the
traveller. The gaucho outlaw is no bandit, or high-
wayman ; murderous assaults do not suit his temper,
as robbery would not suit the character of the ckurri-
ador (sheep-stealer). To be sure, he steals ; but this is
his profession, his trade, his science. He steals horses.
tte arrives, for instance, at the camp oTaTrain fromThe

THE CANTOH.

interior ; its master offers to buy of liim a hoi-se of some
unusual color, of a. particular shape and quality, with
a white star on the shoulder. The gaucho collects his
th.)Ughts, considers a moment, and replies, after a
short silence : " There is no such Iiorse alive." What
thoughts have been passing through the gaucho's
mind ? In that moment Ms memory has traversed a
thousand estates upon the pampa; has seen and ex-
amined every horse in the province, with its marks,
color, and special traits, and he has convinced himself
that not one of them has a star on its shoulder ; some
have one on their foreheads, others have white spots on
their haunches. Is this power of memory amazing?
No ! Napoleon knew two hundred thousand soldiers by
name, and remembered, when he saw any one of them,
all the facts relating to him. Therefore, if nolhing"iin- 1
possible is required of him, the gaucho will deliver |
upon a designated day and spot, just such a horse as I
has been asked for, and with no less punctuality if he I
has been paid in advance. His honor is as scnutive I
upon this point as that of a gambler about liis debt s. [

Sometimes he travels to the country about Cordova
or Santa F6. Then he may be seen crossing the
pampa behind a small body of horses ; if any one meets
him, he follows his coui-se without approaching the new
comer unless he is requested to do so.

THE CANTOR (THE MINSTKEL).

And now we have the idealization of this life of ]

resistance, civilization, barbarism, and danger. The •. U j^

gaucho Cantor corresponds to the singer, bard, or trou- jf^-'

bado^l^gL ilia Midsile_AgBataild moves in the same I "^

42 LIFE VH THE AKGENTIKE REPUBLIC.

scenes, amidst the struggles of the cities with provin-
cial feudatisni, between the life which is passin^r away
"Slid the new life gradiiallir arising. Th^e Cantor goes
from one setliemeiit to another '^e tapera^frgaipoEi!,'
lingrng tlie d"^E[s-fl£Jhe heroe s of the pa mpa wliom the
law^^r»eCTitesr-iite lament of the widow whose sons
Tmve beeiT Wken olT^by the Indians in a recent raid,
the defeat and death of the brave Ilanch, the final
overthrow of Facundo Quiroga,and the &te of Santos
Perez.

~' The Cantor is performing in his simple way the
same labor of recording customs, historv, and biogra-
phy, which was performed by the medieBval bard, and
his verses w ould h ereafter be collected as documents,^
and authonties fo r the fut ure Tltstoria n ;'tnirnuit there
^ands beside Tmn^another more cultivated form of soci-
ety with a knowledge of events snperior to that dis-
played by this less favored chronicler in Jiis_artlgss^
^^lapa^flif^- Two distinct forms of civilization meet
upon a common ground in the Argentine Republic :
one, still in its infancy, which, ignorant of that so far
above it, goes on repeating the crude efforts of the
I Middle Ages; the other, disregarding what lies at its
I feet, while it strives to realize in itself the latest results
I of European civilization; the nineteentlL.aiuLtwelftli'"
I centuries .dwell tog tithc r ■ 'on&-iii_sjde the cities, the
\ Other without them.

The Cantor has no fixed abode ; he lodges where
night surprises him; his fortune consists in his' verses
and in his voice. Wherever the wild mazes of the
adito are threaded, wherever there is a glass of wine
to drink, the Cantor has his place and his particular

THE CANTOR.

part in the festival. Tlie Argentine gaucho only
drinks when excited by music and verse,' and every
grocerj- has its guitar ready for the hands of the Cantor
who perceives from afar where the help of his "gay
science " is needed, by the group of horses about the
door. _^

The Cantor intersperses his heroic songs with the
tale of his own exploits. Unluckily his profession of
Argentine bard does not shield him from the law. He
can tell of a couple of stabs he has dealt, of one or two
migfortunes (homicides !) of his, and of some horse or
girl he has carried off.

In 1840, a Cantor was sitting on the ground, cross-
legged, on the banks of the majestic Paranii, in the
midst of a group of gauchos whom he was keeping in
eager suspense by the long and animated tale of his
labors and adventures. He had already related the
abduction of his love, with the difficulties overcome on
the occasion ; also his minfortune and the dispute that
led to it; and was relating his encounter with the
soldiery, and the stabs with which he defended himself,
when the noisy advance and the shouts of a body of
troops made him aware that this time he was sur-

1 Without windering from onr sobJMt, WB msy here cill to mind lh«
aoMworthT resembUnce batween the Argcniines and the Arabs. In Al.
gitn, Onn, Mincars, and the desert rncEmpincnti, I conalanlly mw tb«
Arabs collected in coffeo-sbops — strong drink being forbidden them, —
closely crowded ■bnat the singer, or mow usumlly two singers, wbo ac-
company Ibemselves with guitars in a duel, and recite uationnl songs of
a moumliil cbiracter like our triKei before mentioned. Tbe Arabian
bridle is of plaited leaiber tliongs, continued into a irbip-Usb like ODti;
the bit whieb we use ii Ibal of tbe Arabs, and many of our ciutoms (bow
tbe intercourse ol^our ancestors wiib tbe Moors of Andalusia. I bava met
some Arabs wbom I could have sworn I bad seen in my own country.

LIFE IN THE ARGENTINE REPUBLIC.

rounded. The troops Jiad, in fact, closed up in the
form of a horseshoe, open towards tlie Parana, the
steep banks of which rose twenty yards above the water.
The Cantor, undismayed by the outcry-, was mounted
in an instant, and after casting a searching look at the
ring of soldiers and their ready pieces, he wheeled his
horse towards the river's bank, covered the animal's
eyes with his poncho, and drove his spnrs into him,
A few moments after, tlie horse, freed from his bit so
that he could swim more easily, emerged from the
depths of the Parana, the minstrel holding iiim by the
tail, and looking back to the scene on shoi-e which he
had quitted, as composedly as if he had been in an
eight-oared boat. Some shots fired by the troops did
not hinder Iiim from arriving safe and sound at the
first island in sight.

To conclude, the original poetry of the minstrel ia
cl umsy, mo notonous, and irregular, when he resign s
himself_ to tligJnspirattnn~Of the m oment. It is occu-
~pie3rather with narration than with tlie expression of
feeling, and is replete with imagery relating to the
open country, to the horse, and to the scenes of the
wilderness, whicli makes it metaph orical an d grandiose.
When he is describing his "SWlT^xploits" or those of
3 renowned evil-doer, he resembles the Neapolitan
improvisatore, his style being unfettered, commonly
nrosaic, b ut occasi onally rising to the poe ti c le veno?—
some moment9i_tosihlrTgairi~~into dii[r~and scarcely
~ ngEcaTTecitation. The Cantor possesses, more^ver^^

a repertory of popular poems in octosyllabic lines vari-
■ ously combined into stanzas of five lines, of ten, or of
-fijght. Among them are many compositions of merit

which show some inspiration and feeling.

THE CANTOR.

To these original types might be added many others
of equal peculiarity, but they would not, like the
former, illustrate the national customs, a knowledge of
which is necessary for the right comprehension of our
political personages and qf the primitive and Amerir,,
can nature of the bloody strife wSSb^- dkftra cta.,^e,
A i' gffntmgjM|mKTip : f n thc ^ourse of this narrative
the reader will himself discover where are to be met
the Track-viewer, Path-finder, Gaucho-outlaw, and
Minstrel. He will see in the chieftains whose &me
has passed the Argentine frontiers, and even in those
who have filled the world with the horror of their
names, the vivid reflection of the internal condition,
customs, and organization of the country.

CHAPTER HI.

ASSOCIATION.

"The gaueho lires on priTatioDf, bat hii laztuy la ftvedom. Proud of aa
imrestiicted liutopondence, his feelings, though wild as his liiie, are yet nobla and
good." — Head,

' V PULPERIA (THE COUNTRY STORE).

In the first chapter we left the Argentine rustic, at
the moment of his arrival at maturity, in the possession
of such a character as Iiad resulted from the natural
circumstances about him, aiid from his want of any
true society. We have seen that he is a man inde*
pendent of every want, under no control, with no
notion of government, all regular and systematic order
being wholly impossible among such people With
these habits of Jieedlessncss and independence he
enters on another step of rural life, which, common-
place as it is, is the starting-point of all the great
events which we are shortly to describe.

It is to be remembered that I am speaking of the
essentially pastoral part of the people, and that I
select for consideration only their fundamental charac-
teristics, neglecting the accidental modifications they
receive, the partial effects of which will be indicated
separately. I am speaking of the combination of
landed proprietaries which cover the surface of a
province, four leagues, more or less, being occupied by
each.

PASTOEAL SOCIETT.

The society of the agricuhnral districts is also much
subdivided and diapers[;d, but on a smalWr scale. One
■laborer assists another, and tiie implements of tillage,
the numerous tools, stores, and animals employed, the
variety of products and the various arts which agri-
culture calls to its aid, establish necessarv relations
between the inhabitants of a valley and make it indis-
pensable for them to have a rudiment of a town to
serve as a centre. Moreover, the cares and occupa-
tions of agriculture require such a number of hands
that idleness becomes impossible, and the men of an
estate are comjM^lled to remain within its limits. The
exact contrary takes place in the singular society we
are describing. The bounds of ownership are un-
marked ; the more numerous the flocks and herds the
fewer hands are required ; upon the women devolve
all the domestic duties and manufactures; the men are
lefl without occupations, pleasures, ideas, or the neces-
sity of application. Home life is wearisome and even
repulsive to them. They need, then, factitious society
to remedy this radical want of association. Their
early acquired habit of riding gives them an additional
incentive to leave their houses.

It is the children's business to drive the horses to
the corral before the sun lias quite risen ; and all the
men, even the lads, saddle their horses, even when
they have no object in view. The horse is an integral
part of the Argentine rustic ; it is for him what the
cravat is to an inhabitant of the city. In 1841, El
Chacho, a chieftain of the Llanos, emigrated to Chili.
"How are you getting on, friend?" somebody asked
him. " How should I be getting on ? " returned he, in

48 LIFE IN THE ARGENTINE REPUBLIC.

tones of distress and melancholy, " Bound to Chili,
and on foot I " Only an Argentine gaucho can appre-
ciate all the misfortune and distress which these two,
phrases express.

Here again we have the life of the Arab or Tartar.
The following words of Victor Hugo might have been
written in the pampas : — .

" He cannot figUl on foot ; he and h'n horse are bul one per-
son. Ue lives on horseback ; he trades, buys, and sellii on horse-
back ; drinks, eats, sleeps, and dreams on horseback." — Le Rhin.

The men then set forth witliout exactly knowing
where thoy are going. A turn around the herds, a
visit to a breeding-pen or to the haunt of a favorite
horse, takes up a small part of the day; the rest is
consumed in a rendezvous at a tavern or grocery store.
There assemble inhabitants of the neighboring par-
ishes ; there are given and received bits of information
about animals that have gone astray ; the traces of the
cattle are described upon the ground ; intelligence of
the hunting-ground of the tiger or of the place where
the tiger's tracks have been seen, is communicated.
There, in short, is the Cantor ; there the men frater-
nize while the giass goes round at the expense of those
who have tlie means as well as the disposition to pay
for it.

In a life so void of emotion, gambling exercises the
enervated mind, and liquor arouses the dormant imagi-
nation. This accidental reunion becomes by its daily
repetition a society more contracted than that from
which each of its individual members came ; yet in
this assembly, without pubhc aim, without social inter-
est, are iirst formed the elements of those characters

THE GAUCeO'3 KNIFE. 49

which are to appear later on the political stage. We
shall see how. The gaucho eateems skill in liorseman-t
ship and physical strength, and especially courage,
ahove all other things, as we have said before. This
meeting, this daily club, is a real Olympic circus where
each man's merit is tested and assayed.

The gaucho is always armed with the knife in-
herited from the Spaniard. More fully even than in
Spain is here realized that peninsular peculiarity, that
cry, characteristic of Saragossa — war to the knife.
The knife, besides being a weapon, is a tool used for
all purposes ; without it, life cannot go on. It is like
the elephant's trunk, arm. hand, finger, and all. The
gaucho boasts of his valor like a trooper, and every
little while his knife glitters through the air in circles,
upon the least provocation, or with none at all, for the
simple purpose of comparing a stranger's prowess with
his own ; he plays at stabbing as lie would play at
dice. So deeply and intimately have these pugnacious
habits entered the life of the Argentine gaucho that
custom has created a code of honor and a fencing
system which protect life. The rowdy of other lands
takes to his knife for the purpose of killing, and he
kills ; the Argentine gaucho unsheathes his to fight,
and he only wounds. To attempt the life of his
adversary he mnst be very drunk, or his instincts must
be really wicked, or his rancor very deep. His aim is
only to mari his opponent, to give him a slash in the
&ce, to leave an indelible token upon him. The
numerous scars to be seen upon these gauch 03, accord-
ingly, are seldom deep. A fight is begun, then, for the
sake of shining, for the glory of victory, for the love

50 LIFE IS THE ARGENTIHE EEPCBLIC.

of fame. A dose ring is made aronnd the combatants,
and excited and eager eyes follow tlie glitter of the
knives which do not cease to move. When blood
Sows in torrents the spectators feel obliged to stop the-
Qght, If a mufortnne has resulted, the sympathies are
with the aorvivor ; the best horse is available for his
escape to a distant place where he is received witti
respect or pity. If the law overtakes him he often
shows fight, and if he njshes tlirongh soldiers and
escapes, he has from that time a wide-spread renown.
Time passes, the judge in place has been succeeded by
another, and he may again show himself in the town-
ship without further molestation : he has a fiill dis-
charge.

Homicide is but a misfortune, unless the deed has
been so often repeated that the perpetrator has gained
the reputation of an assassin. The landed proprietor,
Don Juan Manuel Rosas, before being a public man,
had made his residence a sort of asylum for homicides
without ever extending his protection to robbers ; a
preference which would easily be explained by his
character of gaucho proprietor, if his subsequent con-
duct had not disclosed affinities with evil which have
filled the world with terror.

With respect to equestrian sports, it will suffice to
point out one of the many which are practiced, that the
reader may judge what daring is required of those who
engage in them. A gaucho rides at full speed before
his comrades. One of them flings a set of bolag at
him so as to shackle the horse in the midst of his
career. Issuing from the whirlwind of dust raised by
his fall, appears the rider at a run, followed by the

A CENTADR SOVEREIGNTY.

horse, the latter carried on by the impulse of his inter-
rupted career accordinf; to the laws of physics. In
this pastime, life is staked, and sometimes lost.

"Will it be believed that these displays of valor or
skill and boldness in horsemanship are the basis of the
great exploits which have filled tlie Argentine Repub-
lic with their name and changed the face of the coun-
try? Nothing is more certain, however. I do not
mean to assert that assassination and crime have always
been a. ladder by which men have risen. Thousands
of daring men have remained in the position of obscure
bandits ; but those who owe their position to such deeds
are to be counted by larger numbers than hundreds.
In all despotic societies, great natural gifts tend to lose
themselves in crime; the Roman ^cth'uh which could
conquer the world is to-day the terror of the Pontine
Marshes, and the Spanish Zumalacarregnis and Minas
are to be met by hundreds in Sierra Morena. Man's
need of developing his strength, capacity, and ambition,
requires him, upon the failure of legitimate means, to
frame a world, with its own morality and laws, where
he shows complacently that he was born to be a Napo-
leon or a Caesar.

In this society, then, where mental culture is useless,
or impossible, where no municipal affairs exist, where,
SB there is no public, the public good is a meaningless
word, the man of unusual gifts, striving lo exert his
faculties, takes with that design the means and the
paths which are at hand. The gaucho will be a male-
fiictor or a military chief, according to the course which
things are taking at the moment when he attains
celebrity.

LIFE IN THE AHGENTINE EEPIIBLIC.

Stich customs need vigorous methods of repression,
and to restrain hardened men, judges still more hard-
ened are required. What I said at the outset, of the
captain of the freight-carts, is exactly apphcable to the
country justice. He wants braverv more than any-
thing else ; the terror of his name is more powerful
than the punishments he inflicts. The justice is natu-
rally some one of former notoriety recalled to orderly
life by old age and his family lies, ■ Of course, the law
he administers is altogether arbitrary; his conscience
or his passions determine it, and his decrees are final.
Sometimes justices officiate during their whole lives,
and are remembered with respect. But the conscious-
ness of these methods of administration and the arbi-
trary nature of the attendant penalties, produce among
the people ideas of judicial authority which will have
their effects hereafter. The justice secures obedience
by his reputation for formidable boldness, by his force
of character, his informal decisions, his decree, the
announcement "such are my commands," and the .
forms of punishment which he invents himself From
this disonler, perhaps long since inevitable, it follows
that the military commander who reaches distinction
during rebellions possesses a sway, undisputed and un-
questioned by his followers, equal to the wide and terri-
ble power now only to be found among the nations of
Asia. The Argentine chieftain is a Mohammed who
might change the prevailing religion, if such were his
whim, and contrive another. He has power in all its
forms; his injustice is a misfortune for his victim, but
no abuse on his part ; for he may be unjust, — still
more, he must be unjust, — for he has been a lawless
man all his life.

THE COUNTRY COMMANDANT. 53

These remarks are kIso applicable to the country
commandant. This personage is of more importance
than -the former, and requires in a higher degree the
combination of the reputation and antecedents which
distinguish him. Far from being lessened, the evil is
even aggravated hy an additional circumstance. The
title of country commandant is conferred by the rulers
of the cities ; but as the city is destitute of power,
influence, and supporters in the country, the adminis-
tration lays hold of the men it most fears, and confers
this office upon tliem in order to retain their obedi-
ence — a well known procedure of all weak govern-
ments, which put off the evil of the moment only to ■
allow it to appear later in colossal dimensions. Thus
the Papal government has dealings with banditti, to
whom it gives offices in Rome, encouraging brigand-
age by this means, and making its continuance certain;
thus did the Sultan grant Mehemet AH the rank of
Pacha of Egypt, having afterwards to purchase the
continuance of his own reign by recognizing his vas-
sal's title to an hereditary throne. It is sinpidar thit
all the chieftains of the Argentine revolutionaiy move-
ment were country commandants : Lopez and Ibarra,
Artigas and Guemes, Facundu and Rosas. This is
the constant starting-point of ambition. When Rosas
had made himself master of the city, he eicterminated
all the commandants to whom he owed his elevation,
intrusting with this influential position commonplace
men, who could only follow the path he had traced.
Pajarito, Celarragan, Arbolito, Panchu el ilato, Molina,
were among the commandants of whom Rosas cleared
the couDtT)'.

54 LIFE IN THE ABOEKTINE BEPUBLIC.

I assign so tnucii importance to these lesser points,
because tijey will serve to explain all our social phe-
nomena, and the revolution which has been taking
place in the Argentine Republic. The features of this
revolution are distorted because described in words
from the political dictionary, which disguise and hide
them by the mistaken ideas they call up. In the same
way that of the Spaniards gave familiar European
names to the new animals they encountered upon land-
ing in America ; saluting with the terrible name of *
Hon, which calls up the notion of the magnanimity
, and strength of the king of beasts, a wretched cat
called the puma, which runs at the sight of the dogs,
and naming the jaguar of our woods the tiger. Evi-
dence will soon be brought to show the firm and in-
destructible nature of the foundations upon which I
assert the civil war to be based, however unstable and
ignoble they may appear. The life of the Argentine
country people as I have exhibited it is not a mere
accident ; it is the order of things, a characteristic,
normal, and in my judgment unparalleled system of
association, and in itself affords a full explanation of
our revolution.

Before 1810, two distinct, rival, and incompatible
forms of society, two differing kinds of civilization ex-
isted in the Argentine Republic : one being Spanish,
European, and cultivated, the other barbarous, Amer-
ican, and almost wholly of native growth. The revo-
lution which occurred in the cities acted only as the
cause, the impulse, which sot these two distinct forms
of national existence face to face, and gave occasion
for a contest between them, to be ended, after lasting
many years, by the absorption of one into the other.

' MONTONERAS. .10

I have pointed out the narmal form of association,
or want of association, of the country people, a form
worse, a thousand times, than tiiat of the nomad tribe.
I liave described tlie artificial associations formed In
idleness, and the sources of fame among the gauclios —
bravery, daring, violence, and opposition to regular
law, to the civil law, that is, of the city. These
phenomena of social organization existed in 1810, and
still exist, modified in many points, slowly changing in
others, and yet untouched in several more. These
foci, about which were gathered the brave, ignorant,
free, and unemployed, peasantry, were found by thou-
sands through the country. The revolution of 1810
carried cverj'where commotion and the sound of arms.
Public life, previously wanting in this Arabico-Roman
society, made its appearance in all the taverns, and the
revolutionary movement finally brought about provin-
cial, warlike associations, called moiUonerag, legitimate
ofiFspring of the tavern and the field, hostile to the city
and to tiie army of revolutionary patriots. As events
succeed each other, we shall see the provincial mon-
toneras headed by their chiefs ; the final triumph, in
Facundo Quiroga, of the country over the cities
throughout the land ; and by their subjugation in
spirit, government, and civilization, the final formation
of the central consolidated despotic government of the
landed proprietor, Don Juan Manuel Kosas, who applied
the knife of the gaucho to the culture of Buenos Ayres,
and destroyed the work of centuries — of civilization,
law, and liberty.

CHAPTER rV.

THE BEVOLDTtON <

ntDnuUkaftlluhgfUgliUiLDg."— Yuior Hugs.

I HAVE been obliged to traverse the whole of the
route hitherto pursued, in order to reach the point at
which our drama begins. It is needless to consider at
length the character, object, and end, of the Revolu-
tion of Independence.

They were the same throughout Amorica, and sprang
from the same source, namely, the progress of Euro-
pean ideas. South AmeriL'a pursued that course be-
cause all other nations were pursuing it. Books, events,
and the impulses given by these, induced South Amer-
ica to take part in the movement imparted to France
by North American demands for liberty, and to Spain
by her own and by French writers. But what my
object requires me to notice, is, that the revolution —
except in its external symbolic independence of the
king — was interesting and intelligible only to the
Argentine cities, but foreign and unmeaning to the
rural districts. Books, ideas, municipal spirit, courts,
laws, statutes, education, all the points of contact and
union existing between ua and the people of Europe,
were to be found in the cities, where there was a basis
of organization, incomplete and comparatively evil,

THE BEGIKKING OF THE BEVOLDTION. 57

perhaps, for the very reason it was incomplete, and had
not attained the elevation which it felt itself capable of
reaching;, but it entered into the revolution with enthu-
siasm. Outside the cities, the revolution was a problem-
atical affair, and so far as shaking off the king's author-
ity was shaking off judical authority, it was acceptable.
The pastoral districts could only regard the question
from this point of view. Liberty, responsibility of
power, and all the questions which the revolution was
to solve, were foreign to their mode of life and to their
needs. But they derived this advantage from the
revoUition, that it tended to confer an object and an
occupation upon the excess of vital force, the presence
of which among them has been pointed out, and was
to add a broader base of union than that to which
throughout the country districts the men daily resorted.
These Spartan constitutions, tbat warhke nature hith-
erto ill-satisfied by the free use of the dagger, that
Roman-like idleness which could only be exchanged
for the activity of a battle-field, tliat utter impatience
of judicial control, were all to have at last a fit sphere
of action in the world.

Revolutionary movements then began in Buenos
Ayres, and the call met with a decided response from
all the interior cities. The pastoral districts became
ansettled and joined in the movement. Tolerably dia-
ciphned armies were raised in Buenos Ayres to be sent
to Upper Peru and Montevideo, where the Spanish
forces under General Vigodet were stationed. Gen-
eral Rondeau laid siege to Montevideo with a disci-
plined army, and Artigas, a noted chietUin, took part
in the ue£;e with some thousands of gauchos. Artigaa

68 LIFE IN THE ARGENTIWE REPCBUC.

had been a formidable outlaw till 1804, when the civil
authorities of Buenos Ayrea succeeded in bringing him
over and inducing him to undertake the duties of
country commandant, as a supporter of tlie same au-
thorities upon whom he had, till then, made war. If
the reader has not forgotten the baqueano, and the
general requisites of a country commandant, he will
readily understand the character and feelings of Arti-
gas. After a time. Arligas and !iis gauchos ivithdrew
from General Rondeau, and began to make war upon
him.

The latter's position was the same as Oribe's when
he conducted the siege of Montevideo while taking care
of another enemy at his rear. The only difference
between the cases is that Artigas was hostile at once
to patriots and royalists. It is not my purpose to de-
termine with precision the causes or pretexts which
occasioned this rupture, and I am as little disposed to
apply to it any designation from the language of poli-
tics, for none such would be appropriate. When a
nation engages in a revolution, it is begun bv the con-
flict of two opposing interests, the revolutionary and
^the conservative ; among us the names of patriots and
royalists were applied to the corresponding parties. It
is natural for the victors, after their triumph, to sepa-
rate into moderate and extreme factions, one set wish-
ing to carry out all the consequences of the revolution,
while their opponents seek to restrain it witiiin certain
bounds. It is also characteristic of revolutions for the
originally conquered party to renew its organization,
and to find a means of success in the dissensions of its
conquerors. But when one of the parties called to

THE MIDDLE PAKTT.

the aid of a revolution, innnediately loses its connection
with the others, forms a third entity, and shows hos-
tility indiscriniinately to both combatants (royalists
and patriots), this detached party is he teroj^e neons,
not having been conscious of existence until that time,
the revolution having served to develop it and make
it known.

This was the element set in motion by tlie renowned
Artigas, It was a blind tool, btit a tool fiill of life and
of instincts hostile to European civilization and to all
regular organization ; opposed to monarchy as to re-
publicanism, because both came from the city and pos-
sessed already order and reverence for authority.
This tool was employed by the various parties, prin-
cipally by that least revolutionary, in the civilized
cities, until in the course of time the very men who
had summoned it to their aid, yielded to it ; and with
them fell the city, its ideas, its literature, its colleges,
its tribunals, its civilization I

This spontaneous movement of the pastoral districts
was so ingenuous in its first manifestations, so full of
genius and expression in its spirit and tendencies, that
its adoption and baptism by the parties of the cities
with the political names which divided them, makes
the sincerity of the latter appear in the most unfavor-
able light. The force which supported Artigas in'
Entre Rios, did the same for Lopez in Santa Y€, for
Ibarra in Santiago, for Facundo in the Llanos. Its
essence was individual action ; its exclusive weapon,
the horse ; its stage, the vast pampas. The Bedouin
hordes which in our day disturb the Algerian frontier
by their war-cries and depredations, gives an exact idea

60 LIFE IN THE ARGENTINE EEPDBLIC.

of the Argentine montonera, which has been made
use of by men of sagacity, as well as by noted despera-
does. In Africa, at the present day, there exists the
same struggle between civilization and barbarism ; the
ffoom and the montonera are distinguished by the same
characters, the same spirit, the same undisciplined
strategy. Immense masses of horsemen wander in
each case over the wilderness, offerintr battle to the
disciplined forces of the cities, if they feel themselves
the stronger party ; dispersing in all directions like
clouds of Cossacks, if the fight is even, to unite again
and fall unexpectedly upon their sleeping foes, snatch
away their horses, and hill their laggards and advanced
parties. Ever at hand, but too much scattered to be
successfully attacked, impotent in battle, but powerful
and invincible in an extensive region, they finally
decimate and overpower an organized force by means
of skirmishes, surprises, fatigues, and privations.

The montonera, as it appeared under tlie command
of Art i gas in the early days of tlie Republic, already
showed that character of brutal ferocity and the prom-
ise of a reign of terror, which it was reserved for the
immortal bandit, the Buenos Ayres land-owner, to
convert into a legislative system applied to a civilized
society, and to present to the contemplation of Europe,
to the shame and disgrace of America. Rosas invent-
ed nothing ; his talent was only that of copying his
predecessors and combining the brutal instincts of the
ignorant masses into a coolly planned system.

The thongs made of Colonel Maciel's skin, and by
command of Rosas converted into a pair of manacles,
have been actually seen by foreign officials, an outrage

THE MONTONERA-S SAVAGERY.

not without its precedent, under tiie rule of Artigaa
and the other barbarous and Tartaric chiefs of the
time. The montonera of Artigas waiistcoated its ene-
mies ; that is, sewed them up in an envelope of raw
hide, and left them in the fie!(is in this condition.

The reader may imagine all the horrors of this slow
death, and this horrible punishment was repeated in
1836, in the case of a colonel in the army. The in-
fliction of death by cutting the throat with a knife
instead of by shooting, is the result of the butcherly
instinct which led Rosas to encourage cruelty, to give
executions a more barbarous form which he thought
would give pleasure to the assassins ; in other ivords,
he changed the legal punishments recognized by civil
society, for others which he called American, and in
the name of which he invited his fellow- Ameiicans to
come forward in his defense when the sufferings of
Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay invoked the aid of the
European powers to assist in their liberation from the
cannibal, who was even then overrunning them with
his sanguinary hordes. It is impossible to maintain the
calmness needed to investigate historic truth when we
are forced to remember at every step that America
and Europe have been so long successfully deluded by
a system of assassination and cruelty, scarcely tolerated
in the African provinces of Ashantee or Dahomey.

Such is the character presented by the montonera
from its first apjwarance ; a singular kind of warfare
and civil polity, unprecedented except among the tribes
of the Asiatic plains, and not to be confounded with
the habits, ideas, and customs of the Argentine cities,
which were, like all South American cities, a continua-

62 LIFE IN THE ARGENTINE EEPCBLIC.

tion of European civilization, and especially that of
Spain.

Tb9 only explanation of the montonera is to be dis-
covered by the examination of the society from which
it proceeded. Artigas, tlie baqueano and outlaw, at
war with the authorities of the city, but bought over
as provincial commandant and chief of equestrian bands,
presents a type reproduced with little change in each
provincitll commandant who came to be a partisan
leader. Like all civil wars in which deep diflerences
of education, belief, and motives divide the parties
engaged in them, the internal warfare of the Argen-
tine Kepublic was long and obstinate, nntil one of the
elements of the strife was victorious. The Argentine
Revolutionary War was twofold : 1st, a civilized war-
fare of the cities against Spain ; 2d, a war against the
cities on the part of the country chieftains with the
view of shaking off all pohtical subjection and satisfy-
ing their hatred of civilization. The cities overcame '
the Spaniards, and were in their turn overcome by the
country districts. This is the explanation of the
Argentine Revolution, the first shot of which was fired
in 1810, and the last is still to be heard.

I will not enter into all the details of this contest.
The struggle was of varions duration in different places ;
some cities yielded at first, others later. The life of
Facundo Quiroga will afford us an opportunity of dis-
playing this strife in all its naked deformity. What I
have now to notice is that the triumph of these chiefe
involved tlie disappearance of all civil order, even as
it existed among the Spaniards. In some places it
has totally disappeared ; in others only in part, but it

THE VIOLENT DEATH OF CITIES. 63

is clearly on its way to destruction. The mass of men
are incapable of distinctly comparing one epoch with
another ; the present moment is the only one embraced
by their observation ; and for this reason no one has
yet observed tliis destruction and decadence of the
cities ; just as the visible progress of tlie people of the
interior to total barbarism escapes notice. Buenos
Ayres has so many of the elements of European civili-
zation that it will end by educating Rosas and repress-
ing his bloody and barbarous instincts. The high
positiorf which he occupies, his relations with European
governments, the necessity of respecting strangers and
of denying through the press the atrocities he has com-
mitted, in order to escape universal reprobation, all -
combine to check his outrages, — a perceptible advan-
tage.

Four cities have already been annihilated by tlie
rule of the partisan supporters of Rosas : Santa F^,
Santiago del Estero, San Luis, and La Rioja. Santa
F6, situated at the junction of the Parana and another
navigable river, the mouth of which is close by the
town, is one of the most favored spots of South Amer-
ica, and yet contains less than two thousand souls;
San Luis, the capital of a province with a population
of fifty thousand, in which it is the only city, contains
less than fifteen hundred.

To make the ruin and decadence of civilization and
the rapid progress of barbarism perceptible to tlie read-
er, I must select two cities — one already annihilated,
the other insensibly proceeding towards barbarism —
La Rioja and San Juan. La Rioja was formerly a
city of some account, but its own sons would &il to

64 LIFE IN THE ABGENTINK HKPDBLIC.

recognize it in its present condition. When the revo-
lution of 1810 began, it contained a large number of
capitalists, and men of note, who have figured in a
distinguished manner in arms, at the bar, on the bench,
or in the pulpit. From Rioja came Dr. Castro Barros,
deputy to the Congress of Tucuman, and a celebrated
divine: General DaviJa, who freed Copiapo from the
Spanish power in 1817 ; Gabriel Ocampo, one of the
most noted members of the Argentine bar ; and a.
large number of advocates of the families Ocampo,
Davila, and Garcia, at present scattered over the Chil-
ian territory, as well as various priests of much learn-
ing, among whom is Dr. Gordillo, actual curate of
Huasco.

The ability of a province to produce in a given
epoch so many eminent and illustrious men, proves the
difiusion of learning among a greater number of indi-
viduals, and that it was respected and desired. If such
was the case in the early days of the revolution, what
an increase of enlightenment, wealth, and population,
might we not expect to find now, if a. fearful retro-
gression towards barbarism had not checked the devel-
opment of that unfortunate people I What Chilian
city, however insignificant, is there, in which no prog-
ress has been made during a period of ten years, in
enlightenment, wealth, and elegance, even if we include
among these such aa have been destroyed by earth-
quakes ?

Let us now look at the condition of La Uioja, as
exhibited by the answers given to one of the many in-
quiries I iiave instituted for the purpose of gaining a
thorough knowledge of the facts on which I base my

RIOJA. 65

theories. Tbese are the statements of a reliable per-
son, who was unacquainted with my object in investi-
gating his memory of matters which must have been
fresh in his mind, for it was only four months before
that he left Rioja.'

1. What is about the actual amount of the popula-
tion of Rioja city ?

Ans. About fifteen hundred souls. It. is said that
only fifteen adult males reside in the city.

2. How many persons of note live in it?
Ans. Six or eight in the city.

3. How many lawyers' offices are open there ?
Ans. None.

4. How many men wear dress-coats?
Ans. None.

5. How many young men from La Rioja are study-
ing at Cordova or Buenos Ayres ?

Ans. I know of only one.

6. How many schools are there, and how many
children attend them ?

Ans. None.

7. Are there any public charitable institutions?

Ans. None, nor any means for the simplest instruc-
tion. The only Franciscan ecclesiastic of the place has
given instruction to some children.

8. How many of the churches are in ruins ?

Ans. Five ; the Matiiz is the only one at all ser-
viceable.

9. Are new houses building?

1 Dr. Don Mmiiel Igaitcio CmUo Birros, ODOn of thi Cordova Ca-

66 UFE IN THE ARGENTINE REPDBLIC.

Am. Not one, nor are people making any of th^
needed repairs,

10. Are the existing houses goinp to ruins?

Ant. Almost all, owing to tlie frequency with which
the streets are flooded.

11. How many priests in orders are there ?

Ant, Only two young men in the city: one is a
secular curate, the other an ecclesiastic of Catamarca.
There are four others in the province.

12. Are there any fortunes of fifty thousand dol-
lars ? and how many of twenty thousand ?

An$. None ; all the people are extremely poor.

13. Has the population increased or diminished?
Ans. It has diminished by more than one half.

14. Is there any feeling of terror prevalent among
the people ?

Am. A very strong one ; there is a fear of uttering
even harmless words.

15. Is the money coined of full value ?
Ans. That of the pro^-inoe is debased.

These facts speak witii all their sad and fearful
severity. The only example of so rapid a decline
towards barbarism is presented by the .history of the
Mohammedan conquests of Greece, And this happens
in America, and in the nineteenth century, and is the
work of but twenty years '

What is true of La Rioja is equally .so of Santa F^,
San Luis, and Santiago del Estero, which have become
skeletons of cities, decrepit and devastated, mere apolo-
gies for towns. In San Luis there has been but one
priest for ten years past, and for the same period it has
contained no school, nor any person who wears a dress-

SAN JDAN. 67

coat. But let us judge by San Juan the fate of the
cities which have escaped destruction, but in which
barbarism is insensibly increasing.

San Juan is an exclusively agricultural and com-
mercial province. Its want of open country has long
kept it free from the rule of the provincial chieftains.
Whatever party was in (wwer, its governor and offi-
cials were taken from tlie educated part of its population
until 1833, when Facundo Quiroga placed a. man of
the lower class in possession of the government. This
person, unable to avoid the influence of the civilized
usages, went over to the party of culture and yielded
to their dictations, until he was overthrown by Bri-
zuela, chief of La Rioja. Briznela was succeeded by
General Benavides, whose power has lasted nine years,
and has come to seem rather his own property than a
magistracy held for a term. San Juan has grown in
population, — owing to the progress of agriculture there,
and to tile emigrants driven by hunger and wretched-
ness from La Rioja and San Luis, — and its buildings
have sensibly increased in number ; facts which prove
the natural wealth of the region, and the progress that
might be made under a government which cared to
foster education and culture, the sole methods of ele-
vating a nation.

The despotism of Benavides is mild and pacific, so
that men's minds are kept quiet and calm. He is the
only subordinate of Rosas who has not reveled in
blood ; but this does not lessen the tendency to bar-'
barism inherent in the present system.

All the courts are held by men destitute of the slight-
est knowledge of law, worthless in every sense. There

68 LIFE IN THE ARGENTINE REPUBLtC.

is no military man who has served in regular armies
outside the Republic.^ Is it credible that such an in-
ferior position is naturally that of a eity of the interior?
No, the past proves the contrary. Twenty years ago
San Juan was one of the most civilized towns of the
interior; and what must be the decline and prostration
of a South American city which has to look back
twenty years for its time of prosperity !

In 1831 two hundred heads of families, yoaths, edu-
cated men, advocates, soldiers, and other of its citizens,
emigrated to Chili, Copiapo, Coquimbo, Valparaiso ;
and other parts of that Republic are still full of these
noble victims of proscription, among whom are capital-
ists, intelligent miners, merchants, farmers, lawyers,
and physicians. As at the Babylonian dispersion, none
of them have vet been able to return to see the prom-
ised land. A second set of emigrants left the city in
1840, never to return.

San Juan had been, before these days, rich enough
in distinguished men to give to the celebrated Congress
of Tucuman a President of the capacity and rank of
Dr. Laprida, wlio was afterwards assassinated by the
Aldaos ; a prior to the Recolela Dominica of Chili, in
the person of the distinguished sage and patriot Oro,

1 From lS<a, wben this book watt wrilteo. lo ib« preienl dale, n Mjulaiy ,
reHClion occurred id the province or San Juan. It now conlaiaii one male
■Dd one female academy, and the Honorable House of Re press nlalives haa
juat proclaimed primary education for boib eexes a public iDBIitutioD of
tba proTraee. Mnre than twenty youths »re atndying in Buenos Ayres,
Cordova, and Cbili, for the profeaaions of law or medicine. Music and
drawing have become quite Irequeat accompliahmenta Ibr both aexea, and
the artiaani and other gradei of society dreaa by preference in civiliced
eoalume, which is a eign of a aatiafictory direction of the public mind to
the improvenient oF ita condition.

SAN JUAN. SV^

afterwards Bishop of San Juan. An illastrious patriot,
Don Ignacio de la Rosa, who, in conjunction with San
Martin, prepared the expedition to aid Chili, and who
scattered through his country the seeds of tlie equality \
qf daeeef promised by the Revolution, was also a. citi-
zen of San Juan ; as were a minister of the govern-
ment of Rivadavia, Dr. Carril ; a minister of the Argen-
tine Legation. Don Domingo Oro, whose diplomatic
talents are yet insufficiently appreciated ; a deputy to
the Congress of 1826. the enlightened priest Vera ; a
deputy to the convention of Santa F6, in the presbyter
Oro, an orator of note ; one to that of Cordova. Don
Rudecindo Rojo, as eminent for his talents and genius
for industrial pursuits as for his great learning ; and,
among others, General Rojo, a soldier in the army,
who saved two provinces by suppressing conspiracies.
which be did solely by his quiet determination of char-
acter, and of whom General Paz. a competent judge of
such matters, said, that he bade fair to be one of the
first generals of the Republic. San Juan then possessed
a theatre and a permanent company of actors.

There are still in existence the remains of six or
seven private libraries, which comprised the most valu-
able books of the eighteenth century, and translations
of the beat Greek and Latin works. I had no other
instruction up to 1836 than that afforded me by these
rich, though partially destroyed libraries, San Juan
had so many illustrious men in 1825 that the House of
Representatives contained si.^ noted orators. Let the
wretched peasants who now ' disgrace the House of
Representatives of San Juan, within which have b^en

70 LIFE IN THE ARGENTINE REPUBLIC.

heard such eloquent speeches and such elevated senti-
ments, turn from the record of those times and flee
abashed at the profanation of that august sanctuary by
their diatribes !

The judicial chairs and the administrative offices
were then occupied by educated men, and a sufficient
number remained to plead the causes of others.

The elegani'B of manners, the refinement of cus-
toms, the cultivation of literature, the great commer-
cial interests, the public spirit which animated the
people, — all announced to foreigners the existence of
n society of culture advancing rapidly to the attainment
of a distinguished rank, and justified the following esti-
mate of San Juan given to America and Europe
through the London press : —

" They are shanin^ the strongest inclinKtion to advance in
civilization, and'this city is regardtiil at preaeitt aa only second
to Buenos Ayrea in tlie progrt^ss of social reform. Various iDSti-
lutions lately establislied in Buunos Ayres have been adopted at
San Juan on a scale proporlionale to m size, and tlie people bave
made extraordinary progress in ecclesiastical reform, incorporat-
ing all ihc monastic order! with the secular clergy, and suppress-
ing tbe convents of ttie latter."

■ But the state of primary education will give the best
idea of the culture of the period we are considering.
No portion of the Argentine Republic has been more
distinguished by its anxiety for the diffusion of knowl-
edge than San Juan, nor have more complete results
been obtained elsewhere. The government, not satis-
fied with the (rapacity of the men of the province for
the fulfillment of so important a duty, sent in 1815 for
a person uniting competent learning and high morals

THE RODEIGDEZ, 71

from Baenos Ayres. Some gentlemen of the name of
Rodriguez accordingly came to San Juan. These were
thi-ee brother*. worthy of ranking with the first families
of the country, with whom they became connected,
such was their merit, and such were tbe many excel-
lent qualities they possessed. My present profession
as superintendent of primary education, and my study
of such subjects, enable me to say that if ever any
parallel to the celebrated Dutch schools described by
M. Cousin, occurred in Spanish America, it was in the
school of San Juan. The moral and religious instruc-
tion was perhaps superior to the elementary teaching

given I

; and to this cause I attribute the small

number of crimes committed in San Juan, and tbe
moderate conduct of Benavides himself, who like moat
of the present citizens of San Juan, was educated in
that famous school, where the pupils were indoctrinated
into the precepts of morality with special care.

If these pages reach tiie hands of Don Ignacio and
Don Roque Rodriguez, I trust they will accept this
feeble homage, due, as I believe, to the eminent ser-
vice done to the culture and morality of a whole city,
in connection witii tbeir late brotlier, Don Jos^.^

Such is the history of the Argentine cities. They
can all claim past glory, civilization, and distinction.
For the present they are borne down to the level of
barbarism, and this barbarism of the intei-ior has suc-
ceeded in penetrating even to the streets of Buenos
Ayres.

lA detailed accDant or the syatem and orKuiuiiDn of (hia public <da-
CAtioad jBtablJehnienl will be fouod in Pi;pular Education, a special work
dsTOted to that subject, and the Ihiit or my jonme]' (o Kurope and the
Ooited State), undertakea by ocdtr of tbe CbiLiau goTemmeDt.

LITE IN THE ARGENTINE KEPUBLIC.

From 1810 to 1840 the provinces which contained
such civilized cities, were jet sufficiently barbarous to
destroy by tlieir propensities the colossal work of the
Revolution of Independence! Now that nothing is
left of what men, enlightenment, and institutions they
once held, what will become of them ? Ignorance
and its consequence, poverty, are waiting like carrion
birds for the last gasp of the cities of the interior to
devour their prey, and to convert them into fields and
pastures. Buenos Ayres may again become what it
was ; for there European civilization has such strength
that it must maintain itself in spite of the brutality of
the government. But what can the provinces depend
upon? Two centuries will not suffice for their restora-
tion to the path they have abandoned, if the present
generation shall educate their children in the barbarism
which they have reached. Are we now asked for what
we are contending? We are contending for the res-
toration of their former life, and the promise of im-
provement to the cities,

CHAPTER V.

LIFE OF JUAN FACDNDU QUIROGA.

J, uid giTH blmnlf u)

HIS INFANCY AND YODTH.
Between the cities of San Luis and San Juan, lies
an extensive desert, called the Travesia, a word which
signifies want of water. The aspect of that waste is
mostlv gloomy and unpromising, and the traveller com-
ing from the east does not fail to provide his chiJUs
with & sufficient quantity of water at the last cistern
which he passes as he approaches it. This Travesia
once witnessed tJie following strange scene. The con-
sequences of some of the encounters with knives
so common among our gauchos had driven one of
them in haste from the city of San Luis and forced
him to escape to the "Travesia on foot, and with his
riding gear on his shoulder, in order to avoid the
pursuit of the law. Two comrades were to join
him as soon as they could steal horses for all three.
Hunger and thirst were not the only dangers which at
that time awaited him in the desert ; a tiger that had
already tasted human flesh had been following the track
of those who crossed it for a year, and more than eight
persons had already been the victims of this preference.

74 LIFE IH THE ABGENTINE BEPCfiUC-

In these rep^ons, where man must contend with this
animal for dominion over nature, the former sometimes
falls a victim, upon which the tiger begins to acquire a
preference for the taste of human liesii,and when it has
once devoted itself to this novel form of chase, the pur-
suit of mankind, it gets the name of wwn-eater. The
provincial justice nearest tlie scene of his depredations
calls out the huntsmen of his district, who join, under
his authority and guidance, in the pursuit of tlie beast,
which seldom escapes the consequences of its outlawry.
When our fugitive had proceeded some sis leagues,
he thought he heard the distant roar of the animal, and
a shudder ran through liini. The roar of the tiger resem-
bles the screech of the hog. but is prolonged, sharp, and
piercing, and even when there is no occasion for fear,
causes an involuntary tremor of the nerves as if the flesh
shuddered consciously at the menace of death. The
roaring was heard clearer and nearer. The tiger was al-
ready upon the trail of the man, who saw no refuse but
a small carob-tree at a great distance. He had to
quicken his pace, and finally to run, for the roars behind
him began to follow each other more rapidly, and each
was clearer and more ringing than the last. At length,
flinging his riding gear to one side of the path, the gaucho
turned to the tree which he had noticed, and in spite of
the weakness of its trunk, happily quite a tall one, lie
succeeded in clambering to its top, and keeping him-
self half concealed among its boughs which oscillated
violently. Thence he could see the swift approach of
the tiger, sniffing the soil and i-oaring more frequently
in proportion to its increasing perception of the near-
ness of its prey. Passing beyond the spot where our

THE TIGER.

ti'aveller had left the path, it tost the track, and becom-
ing enraged, rapidly circled about until it discovered
the riding gear, which it dashed to fragments by a
single blow. Still more furious from this failure, it re-
sumed its search for tlie trail, and at last found out the
direction in which it led. It soon discerned its prey,
under whose weight the slight tree was swaying like a
reed upon the summit of which a bird has alighted. The
liger now sprang forward, and in the twinkling of an
eye, its monstrous fore-paws were resting on the slender
trunk two yards from the ground, and were imparting
to the tree a convulsive trembling calculated to act
npon the nerves of the gaucho, whose position was far
ft^m secure. The beast exerted its strength in an
ineffertual leap; it circled around the tree, measuring
the elevation with eyes reddened by the thirst for
blood, and at length, roaring with rage, it crouched
down, beating the ground frantically with its tail, its
eves fixed on its prey, its parched mouth half open.
This horrible scene had lasted for nearly two mortal
hours ; the gaucho's consti-aiiied attitude, and the fear-
ful fascination exercised over bim by the fixed and
bloodthirsty stare of the tiger, which irresistibly at-
tracted and retained his own glances, had begun to di-
minish his strength, and he already perceived that the
moment was at hand when his exhausted body would
fall into the capacious mouth of his pursuer. But at
this moment the distant sound of the feet of horses on a
rapid gallop gave him hope of rescue. His friends had
indeed seen the tiger's foot-prints, and were hastening
on, though without hope of saving him. The scattered
fragments of the saddle directed them to the scene of

76 LIFE IN THE ARGENTINE REPUBLIC.

action, and it was the work of a moment for tliem to
reach it, to uncoil their ]assoes, and to fling them over
the tiger, now blinded by rage. The beast, drawn in
opposite directions by the two lassos, could not evade
the swift stabs by which its destined victim took his re-
venge for his prolonged torments. " On that occasion
I knew what it was to be afraid," was the expression
of Don Juan Facundo Quiroga, as he related this inci-
dent to a group of officers.

He too was called " the tiger of the Llanos," a title
which did not ill befit hini. There are, in fact, as is
proved by phrenology and comparative anatomy, rela-
tions between external forms and moral qualities, be-
tween the countenance of a man and that of some ani-
mal whose disposition resembles his own. Facnndo, as
he was long called in the interior, — or. General Don
Facundo Quiroga, as he afterwards became, when society
had received him into its bosom and victory liad crowned
him with laurels, — was a stoutly built man of low
stature, whose short neck and broad shoulders supported
a weil-3ba])ed head, covered with a profusion of black
and closely curling hair. His somewhat oval face was
half buried in tins mass of hair and an equally thick
■'^ black, curly beard, rising to his cheek-bones, which by
their prominence evinced a firm and tenacious will.
His black and fiery eyes, shadowed by thick eyebrows,
occasioned an iiivoluntari- sense of terror in those on
whom they chanced to fall, for Facundo's glance was
never direct, whether from habit or intention. With
the design of making himself always formidable, he al-
ways kept his head bent down, to look at one from-lindBr
his eyebrows, like the Ali Pacha of Monovoisin. The

QDIBOGA'S EDUCATION. 77

imago of Quiroga is recalled to me by the Cain repre-
sented bv ibe famous Ravel troupe, setting asirie tlie ar-
tistic and statuesque attitudes, which do not correspond
to his. To conclude, his features were regnlar, and
the pale olive of liia complexion harmonized well with
the dense shadows winch surrounded it.

Tlie formation of his liead showed, notwithstanding
this shaggy covering, the peculiar organization of a man
born to rule. Quiroga possessed those natural (|ualitics
which converted the student of Brienne into the genius
of France, and the obscure Mameluke who fought with
the French at the Pyramids, into the Viceroy of Egypt.
Such natures develop according to the society in which
they originate, and are cither noble leadej-s who hold
the highest place in history, ever forwarding the pi-og-
ress of civilization, or the cruel and vicious tyrants
who become the scourges of their race and time.

Facundo Quiroga was the son of an inhabitant
of San Juan, who had settled in tiie Llanos of La
Rioja, and there had acquired a fortune in pastoral
pursuits. In IT^O, Facundo was sent to his father's
native province to receipt tl'" liuiiied iducption- "an-
sistin? only of the •>r'.*_uf'j:ii]uliiig-and.wr''iug,_which
he could acquire in it< schools. After a man has come
to employ the hundred trumpets of fame with the noise
of his deeds, curiosity or the spirit of investigation is
carried to such an extent as to scent out the insigniRcant
history of the child, in order to connect it with the biog-
raphy of llie hero ; and it Is not seldom that the rudi-
ments of the traits characteristic of the historical per-
sonage are met amid fables invented by flattery. The
young Alclbiadea is said to have lain down at iiill

78 LIFE IN THE ARGSNTINE REPUBLIC.

length upon the pavement of tlie street where he was
playing, in order to insist tliat the driver of an ap-
proaching vehicle should yield the way to avoid run-
ning over him. Napoleon is reported to have ruled
over his fellow-students, and to have entrenched him-
self in his study to resist an apprehended insult. Many
anecdotes are now in circulation relating to Facundo,
many of which reveal his true nature. Iii the house
where he lodged, he could never be induced to lake his
seat at the family table ; in school he was haughty, re-
served, and unsocial ; he never joined the other boys
except to head their rebellious proceedings or to beat
them. The master, tired of contending with so un-
tamable a disposition, on one occasion provided himself
with a new and stiff strap, and said to the frightened
boys, as he showed it to them, "This is to be made
supple upon Facundo." Facundo, then eleven years
old, heard this threat, and the next day he tested its
value. Without having learned his lesson, he asked
the head-master to hear it hiuisclf, because, as he said,
the assistant was unfriendly to him. The master com-
plied with the request. Facundo made one mistake,
then two, three, and four ; upon which the master used
his strap upon him. Facundo, who had calculated pvery-
thing, down to the weakness of the chair in which the
master was seated, gave him a buffet, upset him on his
back, and, taking to the street in the confusion created
by this scene, hid himself among some wild vines where

L they could not get him out for three days. Was not

( such a boy the embryo chieftain who would afterwarfla

1 "defy society at large ?

^ In early manhood his character took a more decided

HABITS OF LIFE. 79

cast, <^onstantly becoming more gloomy, imperious,
and wiid. From the age of fifteen years he was irresist-
ibly controlled by the passion for gambling, as is often '
the case with such natures, which need strong excite-
• ment to awaken their dormant energies. This made
him notorious in the city, and intolerable in the house
which afforded him its hospitality ; and finally under
this influence, by a shot fired atone George Peila, he
shed the first riil of blood which went to make up the
wide tog-ent that marked his way through life.

On his becoming an adult, the thread of his life dis-
appears in an intricate labyrinth of bouts and broils
among the people of the surrounding region. Some-
times lying hid, always pursued, he passed his time in
gambling, working as a common laborer, domineering
over everybody around him, and distributing his stabs
among them.

On the Godoy farm in San Juan are shown to this
day mud-walls of Quiroga's treading ; there are
others in Fiambola, in La Rioja, made by bim. He
himself pointed out others in Mendoza, in the very
place where one afternoon he had twenty-six of the
officers who surrendered at Chacon dragged from their
houses and shot to avenge Villifane. He also showed
some monuments of his wandering life of labor in the
country districts of Bnenos Ayes. What motives in-
jduced this man, brought up in a respectable family,
son of a man of means and creditable life, to descend
to a hireling's position, and moreover to select the dull-
est and most brutish kind of work, needing only bodily
strength and endurance ? Was it because the labor of
building these mud-walls is recompensed witli double

80 LIFE IN THE ARGENTINE EEPUBLIC.

wages, and that he was in haste to get together a little
money ?

The most connected account of this obscure aud
roaming part of his life that I can procure is as fol-
lows;

Towards 1806, he went to Chili with a consign-
ment of grain on his parent's account. This he gam-
bled away, as well as the animals, which had brought
it, and the family slaves who had accompanied him.

He often took to San Juan and Mendoza droves of
the stock on his father's estate, and these always shared
the same fate ; for with Facundo, gambling was a fierce
and burning passion which aroused the deepest instincts
of his nature. These successive gains and losses of his
must have worn out his father's generosity, for at last
he broke off all amicable relations with his family.

When he had become the terror of tlie Republic, he
was once asked by one of his parasites, " What was
the largest bet you ever made in your life, General?"
" Seventy dollars," replied Quiroga, carelessly, and
yet he had just won two hundred dollars at one stake.
He afterwards explained that once when a young man,
having only seventy dollars, he had lost them all at one
throw. But this fact has its characteristic history.
Facundo had been at work for a year as a laborer
upon tiie farm of a lady, situated in the Plumerillo,
and had made himself conspicuous by his punctuality
in going to work, and by the inHuence and authority
which he exercised over the other laborers. When
they wanted a holiday to get drunk in, they used to
apply to Facundo, who informed the lady, and gave
her his word, which was always fulfilled, to have all

THE GADCBO'S REVENGE.

the men at work the next day. On this acconnt the
laborers called him the father. At the end of a year
of steady work, Facundo asked for his wages, which
amounted to seventy dollars, and mounted liis horse
without knowing where he was bound, but seeing &
collection of people at a grocery store, he alighted, and
reaching over tiie group around the card-dealer, bet
his seventy dollara on one card. He lost tlioni, and
remounting, went on liis way, careless in what direc-
tion, until after a little time a justice. Toledo by name,
who happened to be passing, stopped liim to ask for his
passport. Facundo rode up as if about to give it to
him, pretended to be feeling for something in his pocket,
and stretched the justice on the ground with a stab.
Was he taking his revenge upon the judge for liis
recent loss at play ? or was it his purpose to satisfy the
irritation against civil authority natural to a gaucho
outlaw, and increase, by this new deed, the splendor
of his rising fame ? Both are true explanations. This
mode of revenging himself for misfortunes upon what-
ever tirst offered itself, had many examples in his life.
When he was addressed as General, and had colonels
at his orders, he had two hundred lashes given one of
thmi in his house *at San Juan, for having, as he said,
cheated at play. He ordered two liundred laslios to
be given to a young man for having allowed himself a
jest at a time wlien jests were not to his taste ; and
two hundred lashes was the penalty inflicted on a
woman in Mendoza for having said to him as he
passed, " Farewell, General," when he was going off
in a rage at not having succeeded in intimidating a

82 LIFE IN THE AROENTIKE BEPDBIJC.

naighbor of his, who was as peaceable and jtidicious as
Facundo was rash and gaucho-like.

Facundo reappears later in Buenos Ayres, where
he was enrolled in 1810 as a recruit in tlie regiment of
Arribefios, which was commanded bj' General Orampo,
a native of his own province, and afterwards president
of Charcas. The glorious career of arms ojwned before
him with the first ravs of the sun of May ; and doubt-
less, endowed with such capacity as his, and with his de-
structive and sanguinary instincts, Facundo, cuuld he
have been disciplined to submit to civil authority and
■ jnnobled in the sublimify of the object of the strife,
might some day have returned from Peru, Chih, or
Bolivia, as a. General of the Argentine Republic, like
so many other brave gauclios who began their careers
in the humble position of a private soldier. But
Quiroga's rebellious spirit could nut endure the yoke
of discipline, the order of tlie barrack, or the delay of
promotion. He felt his destiny to be to rule, to rise at
a single leap, to create for himself, without assistance,
and in spite of a hostile and civilized society, a career
of bis own, combining bravery- and crime, government
and disorganization. He ivas subsequently recruited
into the army of the Andes, and enrolled in the
Mounted Grenadiers. A lieutenant named Garcia
took him for an assistant, and very soon desertion left
a vacant place in those glorious files. Quiroga, like
'Rosas, like alt the vipers that have thriven under the
shade of their countrj-'s laurels, made himself notori-
ous in after-life by liis hatred for the soldiers of Inde-
pendence, among whom both the men above named
made horrible slaughter.

DOMESTIC CHARACTER. 83

Facancio, after deserting frcm Buenos Ayres, set out
for the interior with three comrades. A squad of
soldiery overtook him ; he faced the pursuers and
engaged in a real battle with them, which remained
undecided for awhile, until, after having killed four or
five men, he was at liberty to continue his journey,
constantly cutting his way through detachments of
troops whicli here and there opposed his progress, until
he arrived at San Luis. He was, at a later day, to
traverse the same route with a handful of men, to dis-
perse armies instead of detachments, and proceed to
the famous citadel of Tucuman to blot out tlie last
remains of Ke publican ism and civil order.

Facundo now reappears in the Llanos, at his father's
house. At this period occurred an event which is well
attested. Yet one of the writers whose manuscripts I
am using, replies to an inquiry' about the matter, "that
to the extent of his knowledge Quiroga never attempted
forcibly to deprive his parents of money," and I could
wish to adopt this statement, irreconcilable as it is with
unvarying tradition a,nd general consent. The con-
trary is shocking to relate. It is said that on his
father's refusal to give him a sum of money which he
had demanded, he watched for the lime when both
parents were taking an afternoon nop to fasten the
door of tile room they occupied, and to set tire to the
straw roof, which was the usual covering of the build-
ings of the Llanos ! '

But what is certain in the matter is that his ftther

1 The iiulhor «fterwBtda letmed Ihat Faeundo reliUd Ihii ilory In
companj' of ladies, and oat of hia own early acqauDtancei leati6ad lo 1
bkTiug given bia falhsr a blow on ona occuioa.

84 LIFE IN THE A'iGENTINE REPUBLIC.

once i-equested the g wom ar of La Rioja to arrest him
in order to check his excesses, and that Facundo, be-
fore taking flight frqm ,. the Liano^i. went to the city of
La Rioja, where timt ot fa oi ft] was to be found at the
time, and coming upon him bv surprise, gave him a
blow, saying as he did so, '* You have sent, sir, to
have me arrested. There, have me arrested now I "
On which he mounted his .horse and set off for the
open country at a gallop. At the end of a year he
again showed himself at his father's house, threw him-
self at the feet of the old man whom be had used bo
ill, and succeeded amid the sobs of both, and the son's
assurances of his reform in reply to the father's recrim-
inations, in reestablishing peace, although on a very
uncertain basis.

But no change occurred in his character and dis-
orderly habits ; races, gambUng parties, and expedi-
tions into the country were the occasions of new acts
of violence, stabbings, and assaults on bis part, until
he at length made himself intolerable to all, and ren-
dered his own position ver}- unsafe. Then a great
thought which be announced without shame, got hold
of his mind. The deserter from the Arribeilos regi-
ment, the mounted grenadier who refused to make him-
self immortal at Chacabuco or Maipii, determined to
join the montonera of Ramirez, tiie offshoot from that
led by Artigas, whose renown for crime and hatred for
the cities on which it was making war. Lad reached
the Llanos, and held the provincial government in
dread. Facundo set forth to join those buccaneers of
the pampa. But perhaps the knowledge of his charac-
ter, and of the importance of the aid which he would

FACDNDO IN PRISON.

give to the destroyers, alarmed his fellow provincials,
for they informed the authorities of San Luis, through
which he was to pass, of his infernal design. Dupuis,
then (1818) governor, arrested him, and for sometime
he remained unnoticed among the criminals confined
in the prison. This prison of San Luis, however, was
to be the first step in his ascent to the elevation which
he subsequently attained. San Martin had sent to
San Luis a great number of Spanish officers of all ranks
from among the prisoners taken in Chili. Irritated by
their humiliations and sufferings, or thinking it possible
that the Spanish forces might be assembled again, this
party of prisoners rose one day and opened the door?
of the cells of the common criminals, to obtain theii
aid in a general escape. Facundo was one of these
criminals, and as soon as he found himself free from
prison, lie seized an iron bar of his fetters, split the
skull of the very Spaniard who had released him, and
passing through the group of insurgents, letV a wide
path strewn with the dead. Some say that the weapon
he employed was a bayonet, and that only three men
were killed by it. Quiroga, however, always talked of
the iron bar of the fetters, and of fourteen dead men.
This may be one of the fictions with which the poetic
imagination of the people adorns the types of brute
force they so much admire ; perhaps the tale of the
iron bar is an Argentine version of the jaw-bone of
Samson, the Hebrew Hercules. But Facundo looked
upon it as a crown of glory, in accordance with his
idea of excellence, and whether by bar or bayonet, he
succeeded, aided by other soldiers and prisoners whom
his example encouraged, in suppressing the insurrec-

86 LIFE m THE ARGENTINE REPUBLIC.

tion and reconcilint; society to Iiimself by this act of
bravery, and placing himself under liis cotintry's pro-
tection. Thns his name spread everywhere, ennobled
and cleansed, though with blood, from the stains which
had tarnished it. ^

Facundo returned to La Rioja covered with glory,
his country's creditor ; and with testimonials of his
condnct, to show in the Llanos, among gaucbos, the
new titles which justified the terror his name began to
inspire; for there is something imposing, something
which subjugates and controls others in the man who
is rewarded for the assassination of fourteen men at
one time.

Something still remains to be noticed of the previ-
ous character and temper of this pillar of the Confed-
eration. An illiterate man, one of Quiroga's compan-
ions in childhood and youth, who has supplied me with'
many of the above facts, sends nie the following curi-
ous statements in a manuscript describing Quiroga's
early years: "His public career was not preceded
by the practice of. theft ; he never committed robbery
even in bis most pressing necessities. He was not only
fond of fighting, but would pay for an opportunity, or
for a chance to insult the most renowned champion in
anv company. He bad a great aversion to respectable
men. He never drank. He was very reserved from
his youth, and desired to inspire others with awe as
i*ell as with fear, for which purpose he gave his confi-
dants to understand that be had the gift of prophecy,
in short was a soothsayer. He treated all connected
with him as slaves. He nevertvent to confesBion^ prayed,
or heard mass ; I saw him once at mass after he be-

CHARACTERISTICS.

came a general. He said of himself thttt^ie believed
in nothinp." The frankness with which these words
are written, prove their truth.

And here ends the private life of Quiropa, in which
I have omitted a long series of deeds w-hich only show
his evil nature, his bad education, and his fierce and
bloody instincts. The facts stated appear to me to
inm up the whole public life of Quiroga. I see in them •
"the great man, the man of genius, in spite of himself
and unknown to himself; a Cfesar, Tamerlane, or
Mohammed. The fanlt is not bis that thus he was bom.
In order to contend with, rule, and control the power
of the city, and the judicial authority, he is willing to
descend to anything. If he is offered a place in the
army, he disdains it, because his impatience c.tnnot
wait for promotion. Such a position demands submis-
sion, and places fetters upon individual independence ,*
the soldier's coat oppresses his body, and military tac-
tics control his steps, alt of which are insufferable!
His equestrian life, a life of danger and of strong ex-
citements, has steeled his spirit and hardened his heart.
He feels an unconquerable and instinctive hatred for
the laws which have pui-sued him, for the judges who
have condemned him, and for the whole society and
organism from which ho has felt himself withdrawn
from his childhood, and which regards him with suspi-
cion and contempt. With these remarks is connected
by imperceptible links the motto of this chapter, " He
is the natural man, as yet unused either to repress 'or
disguise his passions ; he does not restrain their energy-,
but gives free rein to their impetuosity. This is the
character of the human race." And thus it appears

88 LIFE IS THE ARGENTINE REPCBUC.

in tiie rural districts of the Argentine Republic. Fa-
cundo is a type of primitive barbarism. He recognized
no form of subjection. His rage was that of a wild
beast. The locks of his crisp black hair, which fell in
meshes over his brow and eyes, resembled the snakes
of Medusa's head. Anger made his voice hoarse, and
turned his glances into dragons. In a fit of passion he
kicked out the brains of a man with whom he had
quarreled at play. He tore off both the ears of a
woman he had lived with, and had promised to marry,
upon her asking him for thirty dollars for the celebra-
tion of the wedding ; and laid ojien his son John's
head with an axe, because he cotild not make him hold
his tongue. He violently beat a beautiful young lady
at Tucuman, whom be bad failed either to seduce or
to Subdue, and exhibited in all his actions a low and
brutal vet not a stupid nature, or one wholly without
lofty aims.-. Incapable of commanding noble admira-
tion, he delighted in exciting fear; and this pleasure
was exclusive and dominant with hiui to the arranging
all his actions so as to produce terror in those around
him, whether it was society in general, the victim on
his way to execution, or his own wife and children.
Wanting ability to manage the machinery of civil gov-
ernment, he substituted terror for patriotism and self-
sacrifice. Destitute of learning, he surrounded himself
with mysteries, and pretended to a foreknowledge of
events which gave him prestige and reputation among
Hfs commonalty, supporting his claims by an air of
impenetrability, by natural sagacity, an uncommon
power of observation, and the advantage he derived
from vulgar credulity.

FACDNDO AS A DIVINER. 89

The repertory of anecdotes nlating to Quiroga, and
with which the popular memory is replete, is inexhaust-
ible ; his sayings, his expedients, bear the stamp of an
originality which gives them a certain Eastern aspect,
a certain tint of Solomonic wisdom in the conception of
the vulgar. Indeed, how does Solomon's advice for
discovering the true mother of the disputed child differ
from Facundo's method of detecting a thief in the fol-
lowing instances : —

An article iiad been stolen from a band, and all
endeavors to discover the thitf had proved fruitless.
Quiroga drew up the troops and gave orders for the
cutting of as many small wands of equal length as there
were soldiei's ; then, having had these wands distrib-
uted one to each man, he said in a confident voice,'
" The man whose wand will be longer than the others
to-morrow morning is the thief." Next day the troops
was again paraded, and Quiroga proceeded to inspect
the wands. There was one whose wand was, not
longer but thorter than tlie others. " Wretch ! " cned
Facundo, in a voice which overpowered the man with
dismay, " it is thou ! " And so it was ; the culprit's
confusion was proof of the fact. The expedient was
a simple one ; the credulous gaucho, fearing that his
wand would really grow, had cut off a piece of it. But
to avail one's self of such means, a man must be supe-
rior in intellect to those about him, and must at least
have some knowledge of human nature.

Some portions of a soldier's accoutrements having
been stolen and all inquiries having failed to detect the
thief, Quiroga had the troops paraded and marched
past him as he stood with crossed arms and a Rxed,
piercing, and terrible gaze. He had previously ^d^

90 LIFE IN THE ARGENTINE REPUBLIC.

" I know the man," with an air of assurance not to
be questioned. The review began ; many men had
|tassed, and Quiroga still remained motionless, like the
statue of Jupiter Tonans or the God of the Last Judg-
ment. All at once he descended upon one man, and
said in a curl and dry voice, " Where is tlie saddle ? "
" Yonder, sir," replied the other, pointing to a thicket.
"Ho! four fusileers I " cried Quiroga. What revela-
tion was this ? that of terror and guilt made to a man
of sagacity.

On another occasion, when a gaucho was answering
to charges of theft which had been brought against
him, Facnndo interrupted him with the words, " This
rogne has begun to lie. Ho, there ! a hundred lashes I "
When the criminal had been taken away, Quiroga said
to some one present, " Look you, my master, when a
gaucho moves 'his foot while talking, it is a sign he is
telling lies." The lashes extorted from the gaucho the
confession that he had stolen a yoke of oxen.

At another time he was in need of a man of resolu-
tion and boldness to whom he could intrust a danger-
ous mission. When a man was brought to liim for
this purpose, Quiroga was writing ; he raised his head
after the man's presence had been repeatedly an-
nounced, looked at him and returned to his writing
with the remark, " Pooh! that is a wretched creature.
I want a brave man and a venturesome one ! " It
turned out to be true that the fellow was actually good
for nothing.

Hundreds of such stories of Facundo's life, which
show the man of superior ability, served effectually to
give him a mysterious fame among the vulgar, who
even attribute superior powers to him.

CHAPTER VI.

LA RIOJA.

TQE COONTBY COMMANDANT.

In a. document dating as far back as 1560, I Iiave
seen recorded the name of Mendoza of the valley of
La Rinja, But La Rioja proper is an Argentine prov-
ince lying north of San Juan, from whicli it is separ-
ated by several strips of desert, altlioiigli these are
broken bv some inhabited valleys. Its western pordoit
is intersected in parallel lines by spurs branching off
from the Andes and including in their valleys los Pue-
blos and Little Chili, as it was called by the Chilian
miners, who frequented the rich and renowned mines
of Famatina.

Further to the east stretches a sandy, barren, and
sun-scorched plain, at the northern extremity of which,
and near a mountain covered to its summit with rank and
lofty vegetation, lies the skeleton of La Rioja, a lonely
city with no suburbs, and withered away, as it were, '
like Jerusalem at the foot of the Mount of Olives. This
sandy plain is bounded, far towards the south, by the
Colorados, mountains of hardened clav, whose regular
outlines take the most picturesque and fantastic forms;

92 LIFE IN THE ARGENTINE REPDBUC.

sometimes resembling a smooth wall with projecting bas-
tions ; sometimes snggesting to the eye massive towers
and the battlements of ruined castles. Lastly, in the
southeast and surrounded by extensive wastes, lie the
Llanos, a broken and hilly region, in spite of its name,
forming an oasis of pasturage which formerly main-
tained thousands of flocks.

The general aspect of the country is desolate, its
climate torrid, its soil parched and destitute of running
streams. Reservoirs called repreaag are constructed by
the peasantry to collect rain-water for the supply of
their animals. I have always been disposed to think
that the general aspect of Palestine resembles that of
La Rioja, in the reddish or ochreous tints of the soil,
the dryness of some regions and their cisterns : also the
orange-trees, vines, and fig-trees bearing exquisite and
enormous fruits, which are raised along the course of
some turbid and confined Jordan. There is a strange
combination of mountain and plain, fruitfiilnejis and
aridity, parched and bristling heights, and hills covered
with dark green forests as lofty as the cedars of Leba-
non.

What chiefly brings these reminiscences of the East
before my imagination is the truly patriarchal appear-
ance of the country people of La Rioja. Thanks to
caprices of fashion, there is now nothing unusual in
seeing men with full beards, according to the immemo-
rial practice of Eastern nations ; but yet this fact would
not wholly prevent the surprise naturally occasioned
by the sight of a Spanish-speaking population among
whom full beards, frequently descending lo the chest,
are, and always have been worn ; a population of mel-

— L

FECD BETWEEN OCAHPOS AND DAVJLAS. 93

aiiclioly, silent, sedate, and crafty dfiiieanor ; of Arabic
appearance, riding npon asses, and sometimes clothed
in goat-skins, like tlie hermit of En-gedi. There are
places where the people live exclusively on wild honey
and the fruit of the carob-tree, as St. John did on lo-
custs in the desert. The Llanista himself is alone un-
conscious of being the most unfortunate, wretched, and
barbarous of mortals, and thanks to this ignorance, he
lives contentedly and happily when hunger does not
trouble him.

I have already said that there are in Rioja some red-
dish mountains which bear at a distance a resem-
blance to towers and feudal castles in ruins ; and still
other mediaeval characteristics are mingled with the
Oriental resemblances above referred to, for in Rioja
there has been a contest of a ceutnry between two
hostile families, whose enmity, rank, and celebrity find
an accurate parallel among the Ursini, Colonnas, and
Medici of Italian feuds. The whole history of the
civilized inhabitants of La Rioja is that of the conten-
tions of the Ocampos and Davilas. These families,
alike ancient, rich, and noble, long strove with each
other for supremacy, and, even long before the Revo-
lution of Independence, had divided the population
into parties like those of the Guelphs and Ghibellines.
A great number of the members of these two families
have distinguished themselves in arms, at the bar, and
in industrial pursuits ; for the Davilas and the Ocampoa
were ever attempting to surpass each other by every
method of acquiring power recognized by civilization.
The extinction of this hereditary animosity was often
an object of the policy of the patriots of Buenos Ayres.

94 LIFE IN THE ARGENTINE REPUBLIC.

The two families were induced by the logic of Lautaro '
to unite an Ocampo with a lady of the Divila family in
order to promote a reconeiliatioii. All know that such
wan the Italian practice ; hut on this occasion the Romeo
and Juliet were more fortunate. Towards 1817 the
government of Buenos Ayres, also with the view of
ending the hostihty of these families, sent the province
a governor from without, Barnachea by name, who fell
ere long under the influence of the D&vila party, de-
pendent upon the support of Don Pnidencio Quiroga, a
man much beloved by the inhabitants of the Llanos
where lie lived ; he had been summoned to the city and
appointed Treasurer and Alcalde, The rural districts
were just beginning, altiiough in a legitimate and noble
manner, in Don Prudencio Quiroga, Facundo's father,
to come into play as a political element among the civil
parties. The Llanos I have stated, consist of a hilly oasis
of pasture land in the midst of an extensive desert (^Ira-
vetia) ; their inhabitants, exclusively shepherds, lead
that pati'iarchal and primitive life which its isolation
preserves in all its purity and hostility to the cities-
Hospitality is in that region a duty of general obliga-
tion. The laborer defends his master from all kinds of
danger, even at the risk of his own life. These customs
will of themselves furnish a partial explanation of the
phenomena we are to witness.

AXxev the event that occurred in his fevor at San
Luis, Facundo made his appearance on the Llanos in-
vested with the prestige of his recent exploit, and for-
tified with a recommendation from the government.
Tlie parties dividing La Hioja were not slow to solicit
the adhesion of a man regarded by all with the respect

ALDAO AND CORRO, 9u

and droad always felt for deeds of unusual daring.
^X'lc Ocampos, wlio came into power in 1820, gave him
tlio title of Sergeant Major of the Militia of the Llanos,
with the influence and authority of Commandant.

Tlie beginning of liis puUic career starts from this
moment. The pastoral and barl)aric element of La
Rinja, the same with that third force which appears
with Arligas at the siege of Montevideo, is now to pre-
sent itself at La Rioja with Quiroga, upon whom one
of the parties of the city had'called for support. The
moment of such an action is a solemn and critical
one in the histor}- of all the pastoral states of the
Argentine Republic; in each therii comes a day when a
man of audacity is made country* commandant either
because he is already dreaded, or because foreign aid
is needed. Such a man Is a Grecian horse like that
which tlie Trojans made haste to bring into the city.

At this time occurred at San Juan the unfortunate
insurrection of the first regiment of the Andes, which
had returned from Chili for reorganization. Francisco
Aldao and Corro, foiled in the objects of the rebellion,
undertook a calamitous retreat towards the north to
join Giiemes, a paitisan chieftain of Salta. General
Ocampo, Governor of La Rioja, took measures to bar
their passage, and for that purpose called out all the
forces of the province and made ready for a battle.
Facundo was at hand with his Llanistas [men of the
plains]. The action began, and a few minutes were
enough to show that the First Regiment had, by rebel-
lion, lost none of their ancient lustre on flelds of battle.
Corro and Aldao moved upon the citv, and tiieir scat-
tered antagonists betook themselves for reorganization

96 LIFE IN THE ARGENTISE REPUBLIC.

to the Lianos, where they could await the arrival of
the troops from Han Juan and Mendoza who were in
pursuit of the fugitives. Facundo meanwhile, aban-
doning the point of reunion, fell upon the rear-guard
of the victors, skirmishing with and harassing them,
and killing or capturing their stragglers. Facundo was
the only man endowed with a life of his own, waiting
for no orders, wholly influenced by the motive power
within himself. He had felt himself called to action,
and waited for no impulse from without. Yet more;
he spoke scornfully of the government and of the
General, and declared iiis intention of overthrowing
it and acting henceforward as his judgment might dic-
tate. It is said that a council of the chief officers of
the army urged upon General Ocarapo his arrest, trial,
and execution ; but the General declined, perhaps less
from moderation than from a feeling that Quiroga was
now less a subordinate officer than a formidable ally.

A definite agreement between Aldao and the gov-
ernment decided tliat the former should return to San
Luis, it not being his wish to follow Corro, and he
government engaging to provide means for his passtge
through its territory by a route across the Llanos.
Facundo was ciiarged with the performance of this
part of the stipulation, and returned with Aldao to the
Llanos. Quiroga by this time was conscious of his
power; and when he turned his back on La Rioja, he
might have taken leave of it witJi the saying, " Woe
to thee, city I Verily I say unto thee that yet a
little while, and there shall not be left of thee one stone
upon another."

Aldao, upon his arrival at the Llanos, offered Qui-

FACDNDO AS COMMANDANT. 97

roga, with whose discontent lie had become acquainted,
s hundred drilled soldiers, to ennble him to make him-
solf master of La Rioja, in exchange for his aid in fu-
ture enterprises. Quiroga eagerly assented, set out tor
the city, took it, captured the officers of the government,
sent them confessors, and orders to prepare themselves .
for death. What object had he in this revolution?
None. Feeling himself powerful and stretching out
his arms, lie overthrew tlie city. Is it his fault?

Old Chilian patriots doubtless still remember the
prowess of Sergeant Araya of the Mounted Grenadiers ;
for among those veterans the halo of glory frequently
rested upon the common soldier. The priest Men^-
ses has informed me that, after the rout of Cancha Ra-
yada. Sergeant Araya and seven grenadiers went to
Mendoza. It was heart-breaking to the patriots to see
the bravest soldiers of their army passing and repass-
ing the Andes while Las Heras still had forces at his
command to face the Spaniards. The detention of
Sergeant Araya was projected; but a- difficulty pre-
sented itself. Who was to approach him ? A detach-
Vnent of seventy militia-men was at hand ; but all the
soldiers knew that the fugitive was Sergeant Araya, and
they would have been a thousand times more ready to
attack the Spaniards than this lion of the grenadiers,

Upon this, Don 3os6 Maria Men^ses, alone and un-
anned, followed and overtook Araya, and, intercepting
him on his way, reminded him of his past glories and
of the disgrace of an objectless flight. Araya was
not deaf to this appeal, and yielded unresistingly to
the entreaties and commands of the good neighbor.
He then became enthusiastic, hastened to stop other

98 LIFE IN THE ARGENTINE REPUBLIC.

squads of grenadiers who had preceded him in flight,
and his diligence and reputation enabled him to join the
army again with seventy comrades in arms, who cleared
their lanrels at Maipu of the momentary stain which
had rested on them.

This Sergeant Araya and a man named Lorca, also
known in Chili by his bravery, commanded the force
placed by Aldao under Facundo's orders. The pris-
oners at La Rioja who were under sentence of death,
among them Dr. Don Gabriel Ocampo, a former min-
ister of government, entreated Lorra to protect them
by his intercession, Facuiido, feeling yet insecure in
his momentary elevation, consented to grant their
lives ; bat this limit set to his power made him aware
that he mast have full control of this veteran force, in
- order to avoid future opposition.

Returning to the Llanos, he came to an understand-
ing with Araya, and in pursuance of their agreement,
they fell upon the rest of Aldao's force by surpi'ise, and
Facundo then found himself at the head of four hun-
dred regulars, from whose ranks were afterwards drawn
the officers of his first armies.

Remembering that Don Nicholas Davila was in exile
at Tucuman, he summoned him to take charge of the
annoying details of the government of La Rioja, himself
retaining the real supremacy, which followed him to the
Llanos. The breach between him and men like the
Ocampos and Davilas was loo wide, and the change
from their government to his, too sudden, to be effected
at a blow ; the spirit of the city was still too powerful for
that of the country to control openly ; a Doctor of Laws
was still thought to make a better government official
'ban any laborer. But all this was afterwards changed.

DAVILA MADE GOVERNOR. 99

Davila undertook tlie government under Facundo,
and for the time all occasion for trouble seemed over.
The possessions and estates of the Davilas were situ-
ated near Chilecito, and there, consequently, in the
kinsmen and friends of the family, was concentrated
the physical and moral force likely to sustain the new
governor. As the population of Chilecito increased
with the profitable working of the mines, and as large
fortunes had been amassed there, the govemnifiit es-
tablished a provincial bank in this small town, to which
it transferred its residence, either to carry out the un-
dertaking or to withdraw itself from the Llanos and
the disagreeable subjection in which Quiroga was dis-
posed to keep that region. Before long, Davila pro-
ceeded from these purely defensive measures to more
decided action. Availing himself of Facundo's tempo-
rary absence at San Juan, he laid plans with Captain
Araya to have him arrested on his return. Facundo
learned what awaited him, and, secretly entering the
Llanos, had Araya assassinated. The government whose
authority had been thus contcmptuouslv defied, sum-
moned him to answer to the charge of assassination.
Ridiculous parodj- ' But there was no other means of
appealing to arms and of kindhng civil war between
the government and Quiroga, between the city and the
Llaiios. Facundo, in his turn, sent commissioners to the
Representative Assembly, to request the deposition of
Davila. The Assembly had urgently called upon the
governor to invade the Llanos and with the support of
all the citizens, to disarm Quiroga. The members had
a local interest in the matter, which was the transfer of
the bank to the city of La Rioja ; but as Davila per-

100 LIFE IW THE ARGENTINE REPUBLIC.

sisted in residing at Chilecito, tlie Assembly yielded
to Facando'a solicitations and declared Davila deposed.
Governor Davila had assembled many of Aldao's
soldiers under the command of Don Miguel Davila.
He had a good supply of military equipments, many
adherents desirous of preserving the province from the
rule of the chieflain who was strengthening himself in
the Llanos, and also several regular ofHcers to lead
his troops. Preparations for war were begun, then,
vith equal zeal, in Chilecito and in the Llanos. Ru-
mors of these unhappy events reached San Juan and
Mendoza, the government of which sent a commis-
sion to attempt to make an arrangement between the
belhgerents, who, by that time, were on the point of
actual conflict. Corbalan, the same now serving in
Rosas' ordnance corps, visited Quiroga's camp to at-
tempt the mediation for which he had been sent, and
which the chieftain accepted ; he next went to the op-
posing camp, where he met the same cordial reception ;
and finally relumed to the camp of Quiroga to an'ange
the exact terms of agreement, but Quiroga, leaving
him there, marched hastily against his enemy, whose
forces he easily routed and dispersed, owing to the
negligence into which the deluded envoy's assurances
had caused them to fa!!. Don Miguel Davila, collect-
ing some of his men, resolutely attacked Quiroga, and
succeeded in wounding hira in one thigh before being
himself disabled by a shot in the wrist ; he was after-
wards surrounded and killed by Quiroga's soldiers. A
feet very characteristic of the gaucho spirit is connected
■with this incident. A soldier takes pleasure in show-
ing his wonnds ; the gaucho hides such as he has re-

BLANCO MADE tlOVESlIOB.

101

ceived in close combat, and avoida baying, their exist-
ence known, because they attest a want' of skill on his
part. Facundo, faithful to these notions of hohoi:^ never
mentioned tlie wound which D&vila had given him.,'-

Here ends the history of the Ocampos and Davilaa,
and with it that of La Rioja. What follows is the his-
tory of Quiroga.

That day of evil omen corresponds to April of 1885
in the history of Buenos Ayres — when its country com-
mandant, its desert hero, madehiraself master of the city.

I ought jiot to omit, since it is to Quiroga's honor, a
curious fact which (1823) occurred at this time. The
feeblest gleam of light is not to he disregarded in the
blackness of that night.

Facundo, upon his triumphant entry into La Rioja,
stopped the ringingof the bells, and after sending a mes-

sage

of condolence to the

f of the slain General,

directed las ashes to be honored with a stately funeral.
He appointed for governor one Blanco, a Spaniard of
low rank, and with him began the now order of aflairs
which was to realize the best ideal of government, as
conceived by Facundo Quiroga ; for, in his long career "
among the various cities which he conquered, he never
took upon himself the charge of organizing govern-
ments ; lie always left that task to others.

The moment of the grasp of power over the destinies
of a commonwealtli by a vigorous hand is ever an im-
portant one and deserves attention. Old institutions
are strengthened, or give place to others, newer and
more productive of good results, or better adapted to
prevailing ideas. From such a focus often diverge the
threads which, as time weaves them together, change
the web of history.

102

LIFE IN TBF /.EGENTINE BEPDBLIC.

It is othferivioe wlien the prevailing force is one for-
eign to civilizdtion, — when an Attila obtains possession
of liom'!, or a Tamerlane traverses the plains of Asia ;
old Jorms remain, but tJie hand of philosophy would
afterwards vainly remove them with the view of find-
ing beneath them plants which had gained vigor from
the human blood given them for nourishment. Fa-
cundo, a man imbued with the genius of barbarism,
gets control of his country ; the traditions of govern-
ment disappear, established forms deteriorate, tlie law
is a plaything in vile hands; and nothing is maintained,
nothing established, amid the destruction tlms accom-
plbhed by the trampling feet of horses. Freedom
from restraint, occupation, and care, is the supreme
good of the gaucho. If La Rioja had coniained statues,
as it contained doctors, they would have had Jiorses tied
to them, but they would have served no other purpose.

Facundo wanted to have means at his command, and,
as he was incapable of creating a revenue system, he re-
sorted to the ordinary proceeding of dull or weak govern-
ments ; but in this case the monopoly bears the stamp
of South American pastoral life, spoliation, and violence.
The tithes of La Rioja were, at this time farmed out at
ten thousand piastres a year ; this was the average rate.
Facundo made his appearance at the board, and his pres-
ence overawed the shepherds. "I offer two thousand
piastres a year," said he, " and one more than tiie best
bid." The committee repeated the proposal three
times ; no one made a bid ; all present left, one by one,
reading in Quiroga's sinister glance that it was the last
one he would allow. The next year he contented him-
self with sending to the board the following note : —

FACUSDO AS FINANCIER. 103

" I give two tbouuod dolUn and one more than the best bid.
" Facundo QniRoax."

The third year the ceremony of adjudication was
omitted, and in 1831, Quiroga again sent to La Rioja
the sum of two thousand dollars, his estimate for the
tithes.

But to make hia tithes bring in a hundred for one,
another step was required, and, after the second year,
Facundo refused to receive the tribute of animals oth-
erwise than by giving his mark among the jiroprietors,
sn that they might hraiid with it the animals set apart
for the titlie and keep them on the place until lie called
for them. The creatures multiplied, their number was
constantly augmented by new tithes, and, after ten
years, it might be reckoned that half the stock of a
whole pastoral province belonged to the commanding
general of the forces, and bore bis mark.

It was the immemorial custom in La Rioja tliat the
eatrai/i, or the animals that were not marked at a cer-
tain age, should become the lawful property of the treas-
ury, which sent its agents to collect these gleanings, and
derived no contemptible revenue from tbem, but the
annoyance to the proprietors whs intolerable. Fa-
cundo demanded the adjudication to himself of these
animals, to meet the expenses he had incuri-ed for the
invasion of the city ; expenses which were reducible
to the summons of irregular forces, who assembled,
mounted on horses of their own, and lived constantly
on what came in their way. Already the proprietor
of herds which brought bim six thousand bullocks
a year, he sent his agents to supply the city markets,
and woe to any competitor who should appear I This

104 LIFE ra THE ARGENTINE REPUBLIC.

business of supplying meat for the markets was one
which he carried on wherever he ruled, in San Juan,
Mendoza, or Tucuman ; and he was always careful to

secure the monopoly of it by proclamation or simple
notification. It is with shame and disgust that I men-
don these disgraceful transactions, but the truth must be
told.

The general's first order, after a bloody battle which •
had laid a city open to him. was that no one should
supply the markets with meat ! In Tucuman he learned
that a resident of the place was killing cattle in his
house, in spite of this order. The general of the aimy
of the Andes, the conqueror of the Citadel, thought
the investigation of so dreadful a crime should be en-
trasted only to himself. He went in person, and
knocked lustily at the door of the house, which refused
to yield, and which the inmates, taken by surprise, did
not open. A kick from the illustrious general broke
it in, and exposed to his view a dead ox, whose hide
was in process of removal by the master of the house,
wlio also Fell dead in his turn at tlie terrible sight of
the offended general ! '

> !□ consequence of tbe prcient lav, tb« goreniment or the prariucc tiM
obuined Ibe iiKnl of His Excellsncy General Dan Jain Facunda Quiroga,
to the foUdwing slipulatioDi, Kgreethly to his nole of SepicDiber 14, 1333.

1. Tliat be wiUmahegoodto the.MDstExcelleatGaverDmeDlDfUuenai
AjTES the sum inveiled by it in the said property.

a. That he will supply the provinoe without incumbrance to the reTenue,
wilb Are tboutaod p««os, to meet ibe difficulty of ilUinjc its coaliDgent ;
three ihuusund peioi in cash and [he remamder in (be produce of live
stock: for the payment of which only the members of the trade of butcher-
ing shall be responaible.

3. That he is to have the excliuive right of sapplyiDg the markets, lell-
ing Id Che public at ih* nie of five reals the arroba of meat, which now

FACUNDO'S AVARICE.

-<05

I do not intentionally dwell upon these things. How
many I omit ! How many misdeeds I pass over in
silence which are fiilly proved and known to all t But
1 am writing the history of government by barbarians,
and I am forced to state its methods.

Mehemet Ali, who became master of Egypt by
means identical with those of Facundo, delivers him*
self up to a rapacity unexampled even in Turkey ;
he establishes monopolies in every occupation and turns
them to his own profit ; but Mehemet Ali, though he
springs from a barbarous nation, rises above his con-
dition so far as to wish to acquire European civiliza-
tion for himself and for the people he oppresses. Fa-
cundo, on tjie contrary, not only rejects all recognized
civili/^tlon, but destroys and disorganizes. Facundo,
who does not govern, because any government impUes
labor for others' good, gives himself up to the instincts
of an immoderate and unscrupulous avarice. Selfish-
ness is the foundation of almost all the great characters
of history; selfishness is the chief spring of all great'
deeds. Quiroga had this political gifl in an eminent
degree and made everything around him contribute to
his advantage; wealth, power, authority, all centred in
him; whatever he could not acquire, — polish, learn-
ing, true respectability, — he hated and persecuted in
all those who possessed them.

GOIIB lix.uid ii of bid quality; and to the sUte at thne reali irithont
nitlng the current pric« of the article.

4, That bla cittl* are to be lUughlcred gntis, rrom the 18th at the pm-
CDt month to the 10th o! January inclusive, and to hare paalure al thi pub-
lic expenge Tor Iwa reals a montb for every bead he ehall provide from the
lit of October neit. Kuiz.— VicEirro Atiemzo.

Offidal Rtguter iff At Pntmtce of San Jaan.

Sah J UAH, Sqitemitr 13, 1833.

106 LIFE IN THE ARGENTINE REPDBLIC.

His hostility to the respectable clasi^es and to the
refinement of tiie cities was every clay more percepti-
ble, and the governor of La Rioja, whom he had him-
self appointed, finally was forced, by daily annoyances,
to resign his place. One day, Quiroga, feeling in-
clined to pleasantry, was amusing himself with a young
man as a cat sports with a frightened mouse ; he liked
to play at killing; the terror of the victim was so
ludicrous, that the executioner was highly diverted, and
laughed immoderately, contrary to his habit. He must
have sympathy in his mirth, and he at once ordered
the general^ to be beat throughout tJie city of Rioja,
which called out the citizens under arms. Facundo,
who had given tiie summons for diversion's sake, drew
up the inhabitants in the principal square at eleven
o'clock at night, dismissed the populace and retained
only the well-to-do householders and the young men
who still had some appearance of culture. All night
he kept them marching and countermarching, halting,
forming line, marcliing by front or by flank. It was
like a drill-sergeant leaching recruits, and the sergeant's
stick travelled over the heads of the stupid, and the
chests of those who were out of hne ; " What would
you have ? this is the way to teach ! " Morning came,
and the pallor, weariness, and exhaustion of the re-
cruits showed what a night they had passed. Their
instructor iinally sent them to rest, and extended his
generosity to the purchase and distribution of pastry,
each recipient made in haste to eat his share, for that
was part of the sport.

Lessons of such a kind are not lost upon cities, and

I A cerUin uU to anut.

MINING FEVEB.

107

tlie skilltul politician who has raised similar proceedings
lo a system in Buenos Ayres, has refined upon them
and made them wonderfully effective. For example :
during the periods between 1835 and 1840 almost the
whole population of Buenos Ayres has passed through
the prisons. Sometimes a hundred and fiftv citizens
would be imprisoned for two or three montlis, to be
then replaced by two hundred who would be kept, per-
haps half the year. Wherefore ? What had they
done? What had they said? Idiots 1 Do you not
see that this is good discipline for the city ? Do you
not remember the sayin;^ of Rosas to Quiroga, that no
republic could be established because the people were
not prepared for it ! This is his way of teaching the
city how to obey ; he will finish his work, and in 1844,
he will be able to show the world a people with but
one thought, one opinion, one voice, and that a bound-
less enthusiasm for the person and will of Rosas ! Then,
indeed, they will be ready for a republic !

But we Wilt return to La Rioja. A feverish ex-
citement on the subject of investments in the mines of
the new States of Spanish America had arisen in Eng-
land ; powerful companies were proposing to draw
proKt from those of Mexico and Pei-u ; and Rivadavia,
who was then residing in London, urged speculators
to invest their capital in the Argentine Republic. The
mines of Fa matin a offered an opening for a great enter-
prise. At the same time, speculators from Buenos
Ayres obtained the exclusive right to work these mines,
meaning to sell it for an enormous sum to the English
companies. These two speculations, one started in
England and the other in Buenos Ayres, conflicted

108

LIFE W THE ARGENTINE REPUBLIC-

with each other, and were irreconcilable. Finally, a
bargain was made with another English house, which
was to supply funds, and in fact, sent out English super-
intendents and miners. Later, a speculation was got
up to establish a bank at La Rioja, which was to be
sold at a high price to the national government when
it should be organized. On being solicited, Fac undo
took a large number of shares, making payment with
tlie Jesuits' College, which had been assigned to him,
on his demand, in payment of his salary as general. A
party of Buenos Ayres stockholders came to La Rioja
to carry out the project, and soon asked to be presented
to Quiroga, whose name had begun to exercise every-
where a mysterious and terrific power, Fac undo
received them in his lodgings, in verj' fine silk stock-
ings, ilUmade pantaloons, and a, common linen poncho.

The grotesque appearance of this figure was not pro-
vocative of any smiles from the elegant citizens of
Buenos Ayres. They were too sagacious not to read
the riddle. The man before them meant to humiliate
his polished guests, and show them what account he
made of their European dresses.

The administrative system established in his prvjvince
was finally completed by exorbitant duties on the ex-
portation of cattle which did not belong to him. But
in addition to these direct methods of acquiring wealth,
he had one which embraced his whole public career, —
gambling ! He had a rage for plav as some men have
for strong drink, and others for tobacco. His mind,
though a powerful one, had not the capacity of embra-
cing a large sphere of ideas, and stood in need of this
factitious occupation, in which a passion of the soul is

GAHBUNG. 109

if) constant exercise, as it is crossed, appeased, pro-
voked, excited, and kept upon the rack. I have always
thought that the passion for gamhling was some useful
faculty that organized society has perverted or left in
inaction. Tlie will, aelf-control, and steadfastness which
it requires, are the same which advance the fortunes of
the enterprising merchant, the banker, and the con-
(jueror who plays for empires with battles. Facundo
had habitually gambled since his childhood ; play bad
been the only pleasure, the only relaxation of bis life.
But what an agreeable partner he must be who con-
trols the terrors and the lives of the wiiole party I No
one can conceive such a state of things without having
had it before his eyes for twenty years. Facundo
played unfairly, say his enemies. I do not believe the
charge, for cheating at play was unnecessary in his
case, and he had been known to pursue to the death,
others who were guilty of it. But he played with un-
limited means ; he never let any one carry from the
table the money he used for stakes ; the game could
not be stopped till he chose ; he would play forty hours
or more at a time ; he feared no one, and if his fellow
gamblers annoyed him, he could have them whipped
or shot at pleasure. This was the secret of his good
luck. Few men ever won much money from hiin, al-
though, at some periods of the game, heaps of coin
lost by him lay upon the table ; the game would go on,
for the winner did not dare to rise, and in the ei^d he
would have nothing but the glory of reckoning that his
winnings, afterwards lost, had once been so large.

Gambling, then, was to Quiroga a system of plunder
as well as a favorite amusement. No one in La Rioja

310 LIFE IN THE ARGKNTIKE REPUBLIC.

received money from him, no one possessed any, with-
out bein*; at once invited to a game, or, in other words,
to leave his funds in the chieftain's hands. Most of the
tradesmen of La Rioja failed and vanished, tlieir money
having taken up iti quarters in tiie general's purse;
and it was not for want of lessons 'in prudence from
him. A young man had won four thousand dollars
from Facundo, and Facundo declined to play longer.
His opponent thought that a snare was in readiness
for liim. and that bis life was in danger. Facundo
repeated that he had finished playing ; the stupid fel-
low insisted on another game, and Facundo, complying
vrith the demand, ivon the four thousand dollars from
the other, who then received two hundred lashes for
his uncivil pertinacity.

I am weary of reading the accounts of infamous acts
in which all the manuscripts I am consulting agree.
I suppress tbem out of respect to my vanity as an
author, and to the literary pi-etensions of my work.
By saying more I should make my pictures appear too
highly colored, coarse, and repulsive.

This terminates one period of the life of the country
commandant after he had aholished and suppressed the
city. Hitherto Facundo was what Rosas was in his
own domain, although not so far degraded before reach-
ing power, either by gambling or by the brutal gratifi-
cation of various passions. But he is to enter upon a
new sphere, and we are soon to follow him over the
whole Republic and seek him on battle fields.

What consequences to La Rioja were occasioned by
the destruction of all civil order? Reasonings and
discussions are here out of place. A visit to the scene

CONSEQUENCES OF FACUNDO'S GOVERNMENT. Ill

of these occurrences w31 be sufficient to answer the
query. The Llanos of La Rioja are now deserted ;
their population has emigrated to San Juan ; the cis-
terns are diy which once gave drink to thousands of
flocks. Those Llanos which fed those flocks twenty
years ago, are now the home of the tiger who has re-
conquered his former empire, and of a few families of
beggars who live upon the fruit of the carob-tree. This
is the retribution the Llanos have suffered for the evils
which they let loose upon the Republic. " Woe to ye,
Bethsaida and Chorazin ! Verily I say unto you, that
the lot of Sodom and Gomorrah was more tolerable
than that which was reserved for you ! *'

CHAPTER m.

SOCIAL LIFE.
Ubntf of Uie king, tlii IndlTldnBl U)wn; of th* prWn, ihc rrlilleitid liberty of Uii|i,

Facondo is now in possession of La Rloja, its um-
pire and absolute master ; no other voice is heard
there, no other interest tiian his exists there. As there
is no literature, there are no opposing opinions. La
Rioja is a military machine which will move as it is
moved. Thus far, howevi;r, Facundo has done noth-
ing new ; Dr. Francia, Ibarra, Lopez, and Bustos, had
done the same ; and Giiemes and Araos had attempted
it in the North ; that i« te destrov al' existing rights
for the pnrnose of strengthening their own. But be-
yond La Rioja lay an agitated world of ideas and of
contradictory interests, whence came to Quiroga'a resi-
dence in the Llanos the distant sounds of the contro-
versies of the press and of political parties. Again
his rise to pawerwas necessarily attended by the spread
of the clamor resulting from his overthrow of the edi-
fice of civilization, and by his becoming an object of
attention to tlie neighboring commonwealths. His
name had passed the frontiers of La Rioja ; Rivadavia
was inviting Iitm to assist in the organization of the
Republic ; Bustos and Lopez wished him to oppose it ;

TaANSlTIOS PERIOD. 113

the government of San Juan complacently reckoned
liim among its Iriends, and strangers came to the Llanos
to pay liira their respects and to ask support in behalf
of one party or another.

Ai that time tiie Argentine Republic presented an
animated and interesting picture. All interests, all
ideas, all passions, met together to create agitation and
tumult. Here, was i chief who would have nought
to do with the rest of the Republic ; there, a commu-
nity whose only desire was to emerge from its isolation ;
yonder, a government engaged in bringing Europe over
to America ; elsewhere, another to which the very name
of civilization was odious ; the Holy Tribuhal of the
Inquisition was reviving in some places; in others, lib-
erty of conscience was proclaimed the first of huoian
rights ; the cry of one party was for confederation ; of
others for a central government; while each different
combination was backed by strong and unconquerable
passions. I must clear up the chaos a little, to show
the role which it fell to Quiroga to enact, and the
great work he was to bring to pass. In order to de-
pict the provincial commandant who took possession of
the city and annulled its constitution, I have found it
necessary to describe the face of nature in the Argen-
tine Republic, with the habits induced and the forms
of character developed by it. And to describe Quiroga
extending hw nower beyond his own nrovmce and pro-
claiming_a nrinciole, an idea, ind ''arrvintr it every-
where at t]\e point of Uie bayonet, 1 must likewise
skctcn th-" ("jo^inhical distributions of the ideas and
interests which wre agiwied in thi; cities. Willi this
object, it is requisite for me to examine two cities un-

114 LIFE IN THE ARGENTINE REPUBLIC.

der tlie sway of opposite ideas. These cities are Cor-
dova and Buenos Ayres, as they existed in 1825, and
previously.

Cordova, tliough somewhat in the grave old Spanish
style, is tlie most charminc; city in South America in
its first aspect. It is situated in a hollow formed in an
elevated region railed the Altos, So closely are its
symmetrical buildings crowded together for want of
apace, that it may be said to be folded back upon itself.
The sky is remarkably clear, the winter season dry and
bracing, the summers iiot and stormy. Towards the
east it has a promenade of singular beauty, the capri-
cious outlines of which strike the eye with magical
effect. It consists of a square pond surrounded by a
very broad walk, shaded by ancient willow-trees of
colossal size. Each side is of the length of a cuadra,'
and the inclosure is of wrought iron grating, with
enormous doors in the centre of each of the four sides,
so that the promenade is an enchanted prison, within
which its inmates circulate around a beautiful temple
of Greek architecture. In the chief square stands the
magnificent cathedral, of Gothic construction, with its
immense dome carved in arabesques, the only model
of medifEval architecture, so far as I know, existing in
South America. Another square is occupied by the
church and convent of the Society of Jesus, in the
presbytery of which is a trap-door communicating with
excavations which extend to some distance below the

CORDOVA. ' ri5

city, which are at present but imperfectly explored ;
dungeons have also b«en discovered where the Societv
buried its criminals alive. If any one wishes to be-
come acquainted with monuments of the Middle Ages,
and to examine into the power and the constitution of
that celebrated religious order above referred to, Cor-
dova is the place where one of its greatest central
establishments was situated.

In every square of that compact city stands a superb
convent, a monastery, or a house for unprofessional
nuns, or for the performance of specific religious exer-
cises. In former times every family included a priest,
a monk, a nun, or a chorister ; the poorer classes con-
tenting themselves with having among them a hermit,
a lay brother, a sacristan, or an acolyte.

Each convent or monastery possessed a set of gd-
joining out-buildings, where lived and multiplied eight
hundred slaves of the Order, negroes, zaraboes, mulat-
toes, and quadroons, with blue eyes, fair and waving
hair, limbs as polished as marble, genuine Circassians
adorned with every grace, hut showing their African
origin by their teeth, serving for bait to the passions
of man, all for the greater honor and profit of the con-
vent to which these houris belonged.^

Here is also the celebrated University of Cordova,
founded as long ago as the year 1613, and in whose
gloomy cloisters eight generations of medicine and
divinity, both branches of law, illustrious writers,
commentators, and scholars have passed their youth.
Let us hear the description given by tlie celebrated
Dean Funes of the course of instniction and the spirit

1 A^miluordarofthingiaxiaU (o thia daf in Iti* d^ of Hiniu.

116 LITE IN THE AEGENTISE BEPUBLIC.

uf this famous university, whicb has for two centuries
provided a great part of South America with theologians
and doctors. " The course of theology lasted for five
years and a half. Theology had come to share in the
porruption of philosophy. The Aristotelian philosophy
applied to theology had resulted in a mixture of the
profene with the spiritual. Mere human reasonings,
deceptive subtleties and sophisms, frivolous and mis-
placed inquiries — such were the conditions under which
the ruling taste of these schools had been formed."
If you would look a little deeper into the spirit of lib-
erty likely to be tlie result of such teaching, listen a
little longer to Dean Funes : " This university was
originated and established wholly by Jesuits, who
founded it in their college of the cily of Cordova,
called Maximo." Very distinguished advocates have
proceeded from this institution, but no man of letters
who has not also been educated at Buenos Ayres with
modern books.

This learned cily has never yet had a public theatre,
nor become acquainted with the opera. It is still with-
out journals, and typography is a branch of industry
which has failed to take root in it. The spirit of Cor*
dova up to 1829 was monastic and scholastic ; the con- .
versation of its society always turned on processions,
the saints' days, university examinations, taking tlie
vail, and reception of the doctor's " tassels."

How far these circumstances tended to influence the
temper of a population occupied with such ideas for
two centuries, cannot be determined ; but some influ-
ence they must have had, as is plain at a glance. Tlie
inhabitant of Cordova does not look beyond bis own

CORDOVA. 117

honzon ; tliat horizon is four blocks distent from his
own. When he takes his afternoon stro]l, instead of
going and returning through a spacious avenue of
poplars as long as the Paseo of Santiago, which expands
and animates the mind, he follows an artificial lake of
motionless and lifeless water, in the centre of which
stands a structure of magnificent proportions, immov-
able and stationary. The citj* is a cloister surrounded
by ravines ; the promenade is a cloister with iron grates ;
every square of houses has a cloister of nuns or friars ;
the colleges are cloisters ; the jurisprudence taught
there, the theology, all the medJEeval scholastic team-
ing of the place, is a mental cloister within which
the intellect is walled up and fortified against every
departure from text and commentarr. Cor<lova knows
not that aoght besides Cordova exists nn earth ; it has,
indeed, heard that there is such a place as Buenos
Avres, bat if it believes this, which it does not always,
it asks: "Has it a university? but it must be an
affair of yesterday. How many convents has it? Has
it such a promenade as this ? If not, it amounts to
nothing,"

" Whose work on jurisprudence do you study ? "
inquired tlie grave Doctor Gijena, of a young man from
Buenos Ay res.

" Bentham's."

" Whose, sir, do you say ? Little Bentham's ? " ' in-
dicating with his finger tlie size of the duodecimo in
which Bentham's work is published. ..." That
wretched little Bentham's ! There is more sense in
one of my writings than in all those wind-bags. What
a university, and what contemptible doctors I "

I Banthindio, Ihi UnDinstion axpreuing dcritiaa.

118 LIFE IN THE ABQKNTINE REPUBLIC.

"And you," said the other, "whose book do you
study? What I"

"Cardinal Lucques."

" What say you, sir ? seventeen folio volumes ? "

It is a fact that as a traveller approaches Cordova,
he looks along the horizon without discovering the
sanctimonious and mysterious city, the city which
wears the doctor's cap and tassels. At last liis guide
says, " Look there, it is down there among the bushes,"
And in reality, as he fixes his gaze upon the ground
at a short distance in advance, there appear one, two,
three, ten crosses, followed by domes and towers, be-
longing to the many churches which adorn this Pom-
peii of mediieval Spain.

To conclude, the mechanics shared the spirit of the
upper classes i a master-shoemaker put on the airs of
a doctor in shoemakiug, and would level a Latin apho-
rism at a man as he gravely took his measure ; the ergo
of the scholar might be heard in the kitchens, and
every dispute between a couple of porters took the
sound and shape of philosophical demonstrations. We
may add, thai throughout the revolution, Cordova was
the asylum of all fugitive Spaniards. What impression
would the revolution of 1810 be likely to make upon a
population educated by Jesuits, and secluded thus by
nature, by teaching, and by art ?

Had revolutionary ideas, such as are found in Rous-
seau, Mably, and Voltaire, happened to spread over the
pampas and descend into this Spanish catacomb, — if
we may so speak, — what response would they have
been likely to find from those bruins disciplined by the
Aristotelian system to reject all new ideas, those

CORDOVA. 119

intellects which, like their own promenade, had an im-
inovahle idea in their centre, unapproachable through
a stagnant lake ?

Toward 1816 the illiistnoua and liberal Dean Funes
succeeded in introducing into the ancient university of
the city the studies previously so much contemned i
mathematics, living languages, public law, physics,
drawing, and music. From that time the youth of
Cordova began to direct their ideas into new channels
which, ere long, led them to consequences of which
we will speak hereafter. At present, I am describing
the old traditional spirit of the place, which was the
dominant one.

The Revolution of 1810 found the ears of Coi-dova
closed to it at the very time when all the provinces
were at once responding to the cry of "To arms!
Liberty ! " It was in Cordova that Liniers began to
raise armies to put down tlie revolution in Buenos Ayres.
It was to Cordova that the Junta sent one of its mem-
bers and its troops to decapitate Spain. It was Cor-
dova, wJiich, offended by this outrage, and looking for
vengeance and reparation, wrote, with the learned
hand of the University, and in the idiom of the
breviary and the commentators, that celebrated acros-
tic ' which pointed out to those who passed the spot the
tomb of the first royalists who were sacrificed upon the
altars of the state.

In 1820, a force stationed in Arequete revolted, and
General Bustos, its leader, abandoning the banners of

? 1

120 LIFE IS THE ARGENTINE EEPUBUC.

tiis conntry, established himself quietly at Cordova,
which congratulated itself for having thus robbed the
nation of one of its armies. Btistos created an irre-
sponsible colonial government, introduced court eti-
quette and the perennial torpor of Spain, and thus
prepared, Cordova entered upon the year 1828, when
the question before the country was the organization
of the Republic and the establishment of the revolu-
tionary system with all its consequences.'

1 On goJDg over the pigei of IhEnflnl historical eu*)', th« luChor regreti
MrUln dvCccU vhidi rannnl be eipunKed nitbout reculing the nhole
worii, for it would tliua be impoulble to preoerve (he thread of the ideas.
The hut of the earl; vein of exile, tba impoMibilitr of verifring deuilf
In ■ueb circumitance*. and the prejudim of party feeling, have left lOiiie
indelible tracea. 'I'he deBcripiion of (Jordora ii itoined Kith (his ca[dtal
vice, and Ibe anilior would villiiigly expunee i(, if it did not contain a
certain inilicioui eiagjnration which make Unking (he conlratt of the
modani epirit which cliiracierized Huenoi Ayrea in 1B2S.

Bui the author owca lo the frieudl.v I'ranknesa of Dr. Alaina, correctiona
upon (fail and aeveral other puiiila, which aa a point of honor as well M
an axcuw, he lubtnits to (lie examination of the reader, (bus making every
poiaible nparatbn for error without destroying the tpirit of the original
text.

'' 1 seem to aee," he aaya in tlieae noiea. " a capital defect in this book,
that of exagReraiion. independent of a certnin vivaciiy, if not in the ideai.
in their allocation. If you do no( propose to write a roinaaee or an epic,
but a Terilable hlatoiy, pulitical, social, and inilituy, your rule mnat he not
to depart fTom rigid historical esactnei*. and exagmntion is ioconstatent
with this. Yon ahaw a pencliniU for ayatenu, and in tocial science, ■yatemi
do not conalilute the beat meana of arriving at the troth. When the mind
is occnpSsd with a previous idea, and pmpnaea to make that triamph in its
damoDstration of il, it expoaea Ilaelf to original errors without being
aware of it. Then inatead of proceeding ■nalyiically, Inatead of examin-
ing each fact in itaelr, la see what can be deduced Atiin it, and from these
delected dednclions and obaervationi. lo britig out a general dednction or
result, instead of proceeding thus, a writer uies synthesis, that is to aiy, he
poses a certain leading idea, reviews wbalever facts present themselves, not
to examine them philrisophically and in detail, but to malte Ihem prove his
tavorile idea, and lo oonslruet by llieir means the edifice of his system.
The nalural nault ot' Ibis is, thai when lie meets with a fiicl which sup-
ports hia idea, he exaggimtts and implilieB it, and when lie Gnda another

BDENOS ATRES.

BUENOS ATRES.

Let ua 110W turn our attention to Buenos Ayres. Its
first struggle was with the aborigines by whom it was

which does nol aqiun -well wilh bii system, or which conlradicts jl, h«
prcMnta nnly one upect of it, disflKuni il, or tnterprels ll in hii own
n;; bence forcnd BiuloglCB uid ■pplidtCioiiB, inexsctor partial jailmnfln Is
of men or ivanli, and the genenillutioni with which » writer deduces a
rule or a doctrine from an individual, and often accidentnl fact, perhapt
iuaifrni'icant in itulf. All thin la a necessity of nyKerni, It is neceosory
to sacrifice a prest d«al to them. You propose to i-how the nciict strug-
gle between civiliution nnd harbirism, i struggle where irenns began
lo move toward development lorg years ago, and which during years
blindly eiciled the (tragirle between eonntry and city, in which by >
neceisaTT law and almott by fatality, the latter triumphed, and ought to

I tl

,t the b<

mof tl

although it his not any in my humbU opini

" Ion treat witb undeserved barshneu that poor city of Cordora. Ton
do not cite lacls that justify your general assertion, made no strongly and
severely. To recall the crime of Ruslos in 1820 would be inopportune,
that crime prove* lonialbing else, but not that. That Leniere and other
dislinguigbed men, almost all Spaniards, acted lllce Sptmlordi in ISIO,
ia not astonishing, and their rencontre at Cordova should not be Imputed
to a love of royalty in the people any more than the appearance of tbil
kind of oeroitie which you copy, and which might have been the work of
■n iodividaal, ibould be imputed to the same thing. These proofs go out
of Ibe limits of the circumspection of history to Justify on accuKation so
positive end so general. There were families of the Spanish party there as
in all tlie provinces, without excluding that of Buenos Ayres, and this was
natural. Afler it wia delivered from Lioiers and his aSBOciites, what fact
reveals the opposition or dissent of Cordova to the revolution? What
does Cordova do less than any other of the provinces wbere the Spanioh
aimies did not go7 What more have t)ie othera done than Conlova? It

cooid to it. From 1810 it furnished many soldieni fi^m 1810 it furnished
many men and young men who became excellent afBcen; il gave Taley,
who died gloriously at Desagaadero; alw Leevl, Bostos, Julian, and Jot4
Uaria Paz, J. G. Ecbevirri*, who died for liberty in 1831, as yon say further
on; It gave my client Colonel Rojas, who made his delnt at Dehew^ and

the first Junta, and has since sent them to alt the national bodies. In
what other way would you have a province take part in the revolution?
In what manuer Haat others taken part in it?

122 LIFE IN THE ABGEHTINE REPCBLIC.

swept from the face of the earth. It recovered itself
more tlian once, until in 16-0 it figured in the Spanish
dominions sufficiently to be erected into a district
governed by a Captain-general, and to be separated
from Paraguay, under whose government it had pre-
viously existed. In 1777, Buenos Ayres had already
become very conspicuous, so much so, indeed, that it
was necessary to remould the administrative geogra-
phy of the colonies, and to uioke Buenos Ayres the
chief section. A viceroyal government was express-
ly created for it.

In ISOiJ, the attention of English speculators was
turned to South America, and especially attracted to
Buenos Ayres by its river, and its probable future. In
1810, Buenos Ayres was filled with partisans of the
revolution, bitterly hostile to anything originating in
Spain or any part of Europe. A germ of progress, then,
was still alive west of the La Plata. The Sguinish colq^
nies cared nothing for commerce or navigation. The
' Rio de la Plata was of small importance to them. The
Spanish disdained it and its banks. As time went on,
the river proved to have deposited its sediment of wealth
upon those banks, but very little of Spanish spirit or
Spanish modes of government. Commercial activity
had brought thither the spirit and the general ideas of
Europe ; the vessels which frequented the waters of the
port brought books from all quarters, and news of all
the political events of the world. It is to be observed
that Spain had no other commercial city upon the
Atlantic coast. The war with England hastened the
emancipation of men's minds and awakened among them
a sense of their own importance as a state. Buenos

BDENOS ATHES.

123

Ayres was like acliild, which, having conquered a giant,
fondly deems itaelf a hero, and is ready to nndertake
greater adventures. The Social Contract flew from hand
to hand. Mably and Raynat were the oracles of the
press ; Robespierre and the Convention the approved
models. Buenos Ayres thought itself a continuation of
Europe, and if it did not frankly confess that its spirit
and tendencies were Freiicli and North American, it
denied its Spanish origin on the ground that the Span-
ish Government had patronized it only after it was full
grown. The revolution hrought with it armies and
glorj-, triumphs and reverses, revolts and seditions. But
Huenos Ayres, amidst all these fluctuations, displayed
the revolutionary energy with which it is endowed. Bo-
livar was everything; Venezuela was but the pedestal
for that colossal figure. Buenos Ayres was a whole
city of revolutionists — Belgrano, Rondeau, San Martin,
Alvear; and the hundred generals in command of its
armies were its instruments ; its arms, not its head nor
its trunk. It cannot be said in the Argentine RepuWic
that such a general was the liberator of the country ;
but only that the Assembly, Directory, Congress, or
government of such or such a period, sent a given gen-
eral to do this thing or that. Communication with all
the European nations was ever, even from the outset,
more complete here than in any other part of Spanish
America ; and now, in ten years' time (but only, be it
understood, in Buenos Ayres), there comes to pass a
radical replacement of the Spanish by the European
spirit. We have only to take a list of the residents in
and about Buenos Ayres to see how many natives of
the country bear English, French, German, or Italian

124 LIFE W THE ARGENTnJE REPUBLIC.

surnames. The orpanizatian of society, in accordance
with the new ideas with which it was impregnated,
began in 1820 ; and the movement continued until
Rivadavia was placed at the head of the government.
Hitherto Rodriguez and Las Heras had been laying
the usual foundations of free governments. Amnesty
]aws, individual security, respect for property, the re-
aponsibility of civil authority, equilibrium of powers,
public education, everything, in fine, was in peaceful
course of establishment when Rivadavia came fi^m
Europe, brought Europe as it were, but Europe was
yet undcr\'alued. Buenos Ayres — and that means, of
course, the Argentine Republic — was to realize what
republican France coutd not realize, what the English
aristocracy did not even wish for, what despotic Europe
wanted still less. This was not an illusion of Riva-
davia 's ; it was the general thought of the city, its
spirit, and its tendency.

Parties were divided, not by ideas essentially opposed
to each other, hut hy the greater or less extent of their
aims. And how else could it have been with a people
which in only fourteen years had given England a
lesson, overrun half the continent, equipped ten armies,
fought a hundred pitched battles, been everywhere
victorious, taken part in all events, set at nought all
traditions, tested all theories, ventured upon everything
and succeeded in everything ; which was stili vigorous,
growing rich, progressing in civilization ? What was
to ensue, when the basis of government, the political
creeds received from Europe, were vitiated by errors,
absurd and deceptive theories, and unsound principles ?
for the native politicians who were as yet without any

BUENOS AYHE8. 125

dutintte knowledge of political organization, could not
be expected to know more than the great men of
Europe. I desire to call attention to the signiticance
uf this fact. The study of constitutions, races, and
creeds, in short, history, has now diffused a certain
amount of practical knowledge which warns us against
the glitter of theories based upon a priori conceptions ;
but previous to 1820, nothing of that liad transpired in
tlie European world. France was roused into insur-
rection hr the paradoxes of the Social Contract ; Buenos
Ayres was similarly roused ; Montesquieu designated
three powers, and immediately we had three ; Benja-
min Constant and Bentham annulled power ; here they
declared it originally null ; Say and Smith preached
free-trade ; " commercial liberty," we repeated ;
Buenos Ayres confessed and beiieved all that the
learned world of Europe believed and confessed. Not
till after the revolution of 1830 in France, and its in-
complete results, did the Social Sciences take a new
direction and illusions begin to be dispelled. From
that time European books began to come to us, which
demonstrated that Voltaire had not much reason, and
liiat Rousseau was a sophist, and Mably and Baynal
anarchists ; that there were no three powere, nor any
Social Contract, etc. From that time we learned some-
thing of races, of tendencies, of national habits, of his-
torical antecedents. Tocqueville revealed to us for the
first time the secret of North America ; Sismondi laid
bare the emptiness of constitutions; Thierry, Michelet,
and Guizot, gave us the spirit of history ; the revolu-
tion of 1830, all the hollowness of the constitutionalism
of Benjamin Constant ; the Spani&li revoluiiou, all tliat

•126 LITE Of THE ARGENTINE RErDBLIC.

is incomplete and behindhand in oar own race. Of
what then were Rivadavia and Buenos Ayres accused ?
Of not knowing more than the European savans who
were their guides? On the other side, how was it
possible not to embrace with ardor the general ideas of
a people who Iiad contributed so much and so well to
make the revolution general ? How bridle the imagina-
tions of the inhabitants of an illimitable plain bordered
by a river whose opposite bank could not be seen — a
step from Europe, not knowing even its own traditions,
indeed without naving them in reality; a new, sud-
denly improvised people, which from the very cradle
had heard itself called great?

Thus elevated, and hitherto flattered by fortune,
Buenos Ayres set about making a constitution for
itself and the Republic, just as it had undertaken to
liberate itself and all South America: that is, eagerly,
nncompromisingjy, and without regard to obstacles.
Rivadavia was the personification of this poetic-al, Uto-
pian spirit which prevailed. He therefore continued
the work of Las Heras upon the large scale necessary
for a great American State — a republic. He brought
over from Europe men of learning for the press and for
the professor's chair, colonies for the deserts, ships for
the rivers, freedom for all creeds, credit and the nation-
al bank to encourage trade, and all the great social
theories of the day for the formation of his government.
In a word, he brought a second Europe, which was to
be established in America, and to accomplish in ten
years what elsewhere had required centuries. Nor was
this project altogether chimerical ; all his administrative
creations still exist, except those which the barbarism of

BDENOS ATHES. 127

Rosas found in its way. Freedom of conscience, advo-
cated by the chief clergy of Buenos Ayres, has not been
repressed ; the European population is scattered on
farms throughout the country, and takes arms of its
own accord to resist the only obstacle in the way of the
wealth offered by the soil. The rivers only need to be
freed from governmental restrictions to become naviga-
ble, and the national bank, then firmly established, has
saved the people from the poverty to which the tyrant
would have brought them. And. above all, however
fanciful and impracticable that great system of govern-
ment may have been, it was at least easy and endura-
ble for the people ; and, notwithstanding the assertions
of misinformed men. Rivadavia never shed a drop of
blood, nor destroyed tlie property of any one ; but
voluntarily descended from the Presidency to poverty
and exile. Rosas, by whom he was so calumniated,
might easily have been drowned in the blood of his
own victims ; and the forty millions of dollars from the
national treasury, with the fifty millions from private
fortunes which were consumed in ten years of the long
war provoked by his brutalities, would have been em-
ployed by tl)e "fool — the dreamer — Rivadavia," In
building canals, cities, and useful public buildings.
Then let this man, who died for his country, have the
glory of representing the highest aspirations of Euro-
pean civilization, and leave to his adversaries that of
displaying South American barbarism in its most odious
light. For Rosas and Rivadavia are the two extremes
of the Argentine Republic, connecting it with savages
through the pampas, and with Europe through the
River La Plata.

128 LIFE IN THE ARGENTINE REPUBLIC.

I am not making tlie eulogy, but the apotheosis of
Kivadavia and his party, which has ceased to exist as
a political element of tlie Argentine Republic, though
Rosas persists in calling his present enemies " Unita-
rios," Tiie old union party, like that of the Giron-
dists, disbanded many years ago ; but with all its im-
possibilities and fanciful illusions it had much that was
noble and great to which the succeeding genei-ation
siiould do justice. Many of those men are still iiinong
us, tiiough no longer as an organized party ; they are
the i-emains of the Argentine Republic, as noble and
as venerable as those of Napoleon's empire. These
Unitarios of the year 1825 form a distinct class of
men, recognized by their mannei-s, tone of voice, and
opinions. A Unitario would be known among a thou-
sand by his stalely beai'ing, his somewhat haughty
manner of speaking, and his positive gestures ; on the
eve of a battle he will pause to discuss a question logi-
cally, or to establish some new legal formality ; for
legal formulas are the outward worship which he offers
tu his idols — the Constitution and individual rights.
His religion is the future of tiie Republic, whose image,
sublime and colossal, is ever before him, covered with
the mantle of its past glory Never was there a genera-
tion so enterprising, so gifted with reasoning and de-
ductive powei-s, and so wanting in practical common
sense. A Unitario will not believe in the evident
success of his enemies. Ha has such faith in the great-
ness of his cau.se ibat neither exile, nor poverty, nor
lapse of years can weaken his enthusiasm ; and in
calmness of mind and in energy of soul he is infinitely
superior to the present generation These men also

THE TWO PAKTIES. 129

excel as in ceremonious politeness and refinement of
manner; for conventionalities are more and more dis-
regarded among ns as democracy progresses, and it is
now difficult to realize the culture and refinement of
society in Buenos Ayres before 1828. Europeans who
went there found themselves, as it were, still in Europe,
in the saloons of Paris ; nothing was wanting, not even
the insolence of the Parisian Elegant, which was well
imitated by the same class of young men in Buenos
Ayres.

I have been particular in mentioning these little
things in order to give an idea of the period when the
Republic was in the process of formation, and of its
different elements struggling for precedence. On one
side Cordova, Spanish in education, in literature, and
in religion, conservative and strongly opposed to all
innovations ; and on the other, Buenos Ayres, revolu-
tionary by nature, ready for any change and progress.

Tliese were the types of the two parties that divided
every city ; and I doubt if there is another such phe-
nomenon in America ; that is, two parties, conserva-
tive and revolutionary, retrograde and progressive,
each represented by a city having its own peculiar
form of civilization, and receiving opinions from entirely
different sources: Cordova, from Spain, the Councils,
the Commentators, the Digest ; Buenos Ayres, from
Bentham, Rousseau, Montesquieu, and French litera-
ture in general.

To these elements of antagonism must be added
another not less important, namely, the want of any
national bond after the provinces became independent
of Spain. When government authority is removed

130 LIFE II? THE ARGENTINE REPUBLIC.

from one centre to another, time is necessary for its
firm establishment.

The " Republican " recently declared that " govern-
ment is no more than a compact between the govemora
and tlie governed." Evidently there are still many
Unilarios among us ! Government u in reality founded
upon the unpremeditated consent which a nation gives to
a ■permanent fact. Where there is deliberation, there
is no authority. This transition state is called a con-
federation. Out of each revolution and consequent
change of government, different nations derive their
ideas and modes of confederation.

I will explain myself. When Ferdinand VII. was
driven from Spain, government — that permanent fact
— ceased to exist; and Spain was formed into provin-
cial assemblies which denied the authority of those who
governed in the name of the king. This was the
Spanish Confederation. When the news reached
America, the South American provinces revolted from
Spain, and being divided into sections, formed the
South American Confederation. From Buenos Ayres
came at the end of the contest, four states, — Bolivia,
Paraguay, Banda Oriental, and the Argentine Repub-
lic ; these formed the Confederation of the Vieeroyaity.
Finally, the Argentine Republic was divided, not as
formerly into districts, but according to its cities, and
so became a confederation of cities.

It is not that the word confederation signifies sepa-
ration, but that when separation has already taken
place, it expresses the union of the different parts. The
Argentine Republic was at this crisis social, and many
persons of note in the cities believed that, for mere

COITSOLIDATIOII IKZVTIABLX. ]31

convenience, or whenever an individual or a commn-
nity felt no respect for the nominal government, a new
confederation might be formed. Here then was another
apple of discord In the Republic, and the two parties,
after having been called " Royalists " and " Patriots,"
" Congresistas " and " Execute viatas," " Conserva-
tives," and "Liberals," now bore the names of " Fed-
erales " and " Unitarios." ' Perhaps, to finish the list,
I should give the name bestowed upon the latter party
by Don Juan Manuel Rosas, that is, " salvajes inmundos
UnitartoB."

But the Argentine Republic is so situated geograph-
ically, that it is destined to a consolidation, whatever
Rosas may say to the contrary. Its continuous plain,
its rivers confined to one outlet, and therefore to one
port, force it inevitably to be ^'■one and indivi$ibl«."
Rivadavia, who well understood the necessities of the
country, advised the provinces to unite under a common
constitution, and to make a national port of Buenos
Ayres. Aguero, his supporter in Congress, said to the
citizens of Buenos Ayres, " Let us voluntarily give to
the provinces what, sooner or later, they will claim by
force." The prophecy failed in one respect ; the prov-
inces did not claim the port of Buenos Ayres by force
of arms, but by force f\{ the barbarism which they sent
upon her in Facundo and Rosas. Buenos Ayres feels
all the effects of tlie barbarism, while the port has been
of no use to the provinces.

I have been obliged to explain all these antecedents

132 LIFE IN THE ARGENTINE KEPDBLIC.

in order to continue the life of Juan Facundo Quiroga ;
for, though it seems ridiculous to saj it, Facundo was
I the rival of Rivadavia. Everything disconnected with
these men was of little importance, and left no impres-
sion. There were in the Republic two parties : one
in Buenos Ayres, supported by the Liberals in the
pro\-inces ; the other originating in tlie provinces and
supported by tlie provincial commanders who had ob-
tained possession of cities. One of these powers was
civilized, constitutional, Europt-an ; the other barba-
rous, arbitrary, South American.

These two parties had reached their full develop-
ment, and only needed a word to begin the contest ;
one, as the revolutionary party, was already called
" Unitario," the opposite party assumed the name of
" Federal," without well understanding it.

But that barbarian party or power was scattered
throughout the Republic, in the provinces, and in the
Indian territories, and a strong arm was needed to
establish it firmly in a compact form, and Quiroga
offered his for the work.

Though the Argentine gaucho has some qualities
common to all shepherds, he has strong local attach-
ments. Whether he belongs in Buenos Ayres, Santa
¥6, Cordova, or the Llanos, all his aspirations are con-
fined to his own province ; and he is an enemy or a
stranger to all the others. These provinces are like
different tribes ready to make war upon one another.
Lopez, as governor of Santa F^, cared nothing for what
was passing around him, except occasionally when
obliged to drive out troublesome intruders from his
territory. But as these provinces had points of con-

FACUNDO'S INDITIDUALITT. 133

tact, nothing could prevent them from finally joining
in a common interest, thns bringing about that consol-
idation which they had so struggled against.

As I have already said, Quiroga's wandering life in
youth gave rise to his fiitnre ambition ; for, though a
gaucho, he was troubled with no local attachment. He
was born in Rioja, but educated in San Juan, and lived
afterwards both in Mendoza and Buenos Ayres. He
was acquainted with the whole Republic, and his am-
bition had no narrow limits. Master of Rioja, he
delighted to present himself clothed with authority in
that town, where he had learned to read ; in another
city, which was the scene of his boyish etcapadaa ; and
in another still, where he had distinguished himself by
his prison exploit. If it was for his interest to leave a
province, he was not detained by his affections ; and,
□nlike Lopez or Ibarra, who only cared to defend their
own possessions, he was fond of attacking his neighbor's
territory snd taking it into his own hands.

CHAPTER Vni.

' EXPERIMENTS.
ndd •on vHti «|i«a, — Skakufitaji.

The political condition of the Repablic was snch as
we have deicribed in 1825, when the governor of Bae-
nos Ayrea^ invited the provinces to unite in a congress
and assume the form of a general government. This
idea was everywhere favorably received, either because
every militaiy commander expected to be made gover-
nor of his own province, or because the glory of Bue-
nos Ayres dazzled all eyes. The governor of Buenos
Ayres has been blamed for proposing this question, the
solution of which was to be so unfortunate for himself
and for the civilization of the country.

Facundo, in behalf of La Rioja, eagerly accepted
the invitation, perhaps on account of the sympathy
which all highly gifted minds have for good plans !

In 1825 the Republic prepared for the Brazilian
war by calling upon each province to raise a regiment
for the army. Colonel Madrid went to Tucuman for
this purpose, and impatient to obtain the reluctant
recruits and other necessaries for his company, did not
hesitate to set aside the slow authorities and to take
things into his own hands in order to expedite the

COLONEL MADRID.

135

necessarj' decrees. This act of subversion placed the
governor of Buenos Ayres in a very delicate position ;
for there was already some distrust among the govern-
ments, arising from provincial jealousies, and the com-
ing of Colonel Madrid from Buenos Ayres, and hia
interference with provincial authorities, were regarded
as acts instigated by the governoip himself.

To remove this suspicion, Facundo was sent to Tu-
caman for the purpose of reestablishing the local
authorities. Madrid explained to the governor the
real motive — certainly a very insufficient one — whicli
had actuated him, and professed sincere devotion to
the cause. But it was too late, Facundo was already
on his way, and he could only prepare to resist him.
Madrid had at his disposal a company which was pass-
ing through Salta ; but not wishing to aggravate the
charges already made against him, contented himself
with fifty guns and as many swords ; enough, as he
thought, to meet the invading force.

This Colonel Madrid belonged to a class of men
essentially Argentine by birth and spirit. At the age
of fourteen he began to fight the Spaniards, and the
stories of his romantic valor are numerous and often
incredible. He was said to have been in a hundred
and fifty encountere, his sword always bearing marks
of much service ; the very smell of powder and neigh-
ing of the horses so excited him, that cavalry, artillery,
infantry, everything that came in his way, fell before
his mad energ_v- Besides his love of fighting, he had
the gift of the Argentine cantor, and animated his
soldiers with war-songs, such as have already been
described. Unfortunately, he was not a well-balanced

136

LIFE IS THE ARGENTINE REPUBLIC.

general, such as Napoleon liked ; Iiia bravery prtdoin-
inated over the other qualities desirable in a general in
the proportion of a hundred to one, — a fact well
proved by the event at Tucuman. Though able to call
in a sufficient force, he persisted in giving battle with
only a handful of men, accompanied by Colonel Dia&-
velez, who was not less brave than himself. Facundo
had with him two hundred of infantry and his own
Red Cavalry ; Madrid had fifty-foot soldiers and a few
squadrons of militia. At the beginning of the contest,
Facundo and his cavalry were routed, and he himself
did not return to the field of battle until all was over.
Meanwhile the body of infanliy stood firm ; Madrid
ordered his men to charge upon them, but not being
obeyed, he actually rushed upon them alone. He was
thrown from his horse, but, recovering himself, charged
about hirn, slaying on the right, on the left, and before
liim, until horse and horseman fell pierced with balls
and bayonets, and victory was decided in favor of the
infantry.

Facundo now came back to recover his black flag
which had been lost, and found his victory gained, and
Madrid dead, actually dead. His equipments were
there, — sword, horse, and all, — but his body could
not be recognized among the stripped and mutilated
corpses that lay upon the field. Colonel Diasvelez,
who was a prisoner, said that his ally had a bayonet
wound in his leg, and no body was found with such a
wound.

Madrid had dragged himself under some bushes
where his aid found Iiim raving deliriously about tbe
battle ; and at the sound of approaching footsteps, lie

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE COLOB "RED." 137

cried, " f do not surrender ! " Never until then had
Colonel Madrid surrendered.

This was tha famous fight at Tala, the first exploit
of Quiroga beyond the limits of his province. He had
conquered " the bravest of the brave," and kept his
sword as a trophy of the victory. Will he stop there ?
But let U3 see the force which sustained itself against
the colonel of the i»th regiment, who overthrew a
government to equip his company. Facundo raised at
Tala a flag which was not Argentine, but of his own
invention ; namely, a black ground with a skull and
cross-bones in the centre. This was the flag which he
had lost early in the engagement, and which he in-
tended to recover, as he said to his routed soldiers,
even at the mouth of hell. Terror, death, hell, were
represented on the banner and in the proclamations of
this general of the Llanos.

And there was still another revelation of the Arab-
Tartar spirit of that power which was to destroy the
cities. The Argentine colors are blue and white ; the
clear sky of a fair day, and the bright light of the disk
of the sun: "peace and justice for all." In our hatred of
tyranny and violence, we reject on our national flag war-
like devices. Two hands, as a sign of anion, support
the Phrygian cap of Liberty. " The United Cities "'
says this symbol, " will sustain their acquired liberty."
The sun begins to illumine the background of this
device, while the darkness of night is disappearing.
The armies of the RepubHc, which were to spread over
the whole country to enforce the coming of that
promised light, wear a uniform of dark blue. But
now, in the very heart of the Republic, the color red

188

LIFE IN THE ARGENTINE REPUBLIC.

appears on the national banners, in the dress of the
soldiers, and in the cockade which everv native Argen-
tine must wear under pain of death. Let us look up
the significance of the color red. I have before me a
picture of all the national flags of the world. In civ-
ilized Europe there is but one in which this color
prevails, notwithstanding the barbaric origin of its ban-
ners. The red ones are : Algiers, a red flag with skull
and cross-bones ; Tunis, a red flag ; Mongolia, the
same ; Turkey, a red flag with a crescent ; Morocco ;
Japan, red with the exterminating knife ; Siam has
the same.

I remember that travellers in the interior of Africa
provide themselves with red cloth for the negro princes.
" The king of Elve," say the brothers Lander, " wore
a Spanish coat of red cloth and pantaloons of the same
color."

I remember that the presents sent by the govern-
ment of Chili to the caciques of Argnco, were red
cloaks and coats, because savages liked this color
especially.

The royal robes of the barbarian kings of Europe
were always red. The royal edict of Genoa declared
that the senators must wear a red toga, and especially
in pronouncing judgment on criminals, that they-
might inspire the prisoners with terror.

Until within tlie last century it was the custom in
all the countries of Europe for the exeotioner to be
dressed in red. The armies of Rosas w««; a red uni-
form ; his likeness is stamped on a red nbbon.

What remarkable connection is there between these
facts ? Is it chance that Algiers, Tunis, Japan, Turkey,

EFFECTS OF FREEDOM OF THODGHT. 189

Sianii the Africans, the saTages,the Roman Noros, the
barbarian kings, the hangmen, and Rosas, should be
clothed in a color now proscribed by Christian and
rivilized communities ? No, it is because red ia the
symbol of violence, blood, and barbarism. If not, why
this antagonism ?

The Argentine revolution of independence was sym-
bolized by two blue stripes and one white one ; signi-
fying, justice, peace, justice^

The amendment made by Facundo and approved by
Rosas, was a red band, signifying terror, blood, barba-

In all ages this significance has been given to the
color purple or red ; study the iistory of those nations
who have hoisted this color, and you will always find
a Rosas and a Pacundo — terror, barbarism, and blood
always prevailing. In Morocco, the emperor has the
singular prerogative of killing criminals with his own
hand. Each phase of civilization is expressed in its
garments, and every style of apparel ia indicative of an
entire system of ideas. Why do we wear beards at
the present day ? Because of the researches recently
made in medieval history ; the direction given to
romantic literature is reflected in the fashions of the
day. And why are these constantly changing ? Be-
cause of the freedom of thought in Europe ; let
thought be stationary, enslaved, and the costume will
remain unchanged. Thus in Asia, where men live
onder such governments as that of Rosas, the same
style of dress has been worn since the time of Abra-
ham.
. And still farther ; every form of civilization has had

140

LIFE IN THE ARGENTINE HEPOBLIC.

its style of apparel, and every revolution of institutions
has produced a change of costume. The Roman civil-
ization had one style of dress ; the Middle Ages an-
other; the frock-coat was not worn in Europe until after
the revival of letters. It is ever the most civilized na-
tion that imposes its fashions on the rest of the world.
All Christian nations now wear the coat, and when the
Sultan of Turkey, Abdul-Medjid, desired to introduce
European civilization into his dominions, he laid aside
the turban and caftan for the frock-coat, pantaloons, and
cravat.

The Argentine people know the violent opposition
to civilized costume made by both Rosas and Facundo.
One night, in the year 1840, a couple of mazorqiieros ^
were dodging around the streets of Buenos Ayres in
pursuit of a man who wore a coat, and at last he was
seized by the throat, when ho exclaimed, " I am Simon
Pereiral" "Pardon, sir," said the men, "but yon
expose yourself by wearing this coat." " That is just
why I wear it ; who else wears a coat ? I do it to be
known at a distance."

This Simon was the purvevor and agent of Rosas.
But to finish the illustration of the spirit of the civil
war by its symbols, I must refer to the history of the
" red ribbon " of quite extensive notoriety.

In 1820, Rosas appeared in Buenos Ayres with his
Colorados de las Conchas.'' Twenty years afterwards,
he colored the whole city with red ; houses, doors,
paper-hangings, tapestry, etc. ; but finally he conse-
crated the color to official purposes, and made it a test
of loyalty to the state.

in cuei of secret veagauice.

THE RED RIBBON. 141

The history of the red ribbon is rather singular. At
first it was adopted only by party enthusiasts ; then it
was ordered that every one should wear it as a proof
of ujianimittf of opinion. If there was no intentional
disobedience, but in changing the dress the badge was
forgotten, the pohce came to the assistance of memory.
Mazorqueros were stationed in all the streets, and par-
ticularly at the doors of the churches, and when the
ladies came out, slashes with a cowhide were distrib-
nted without mercy. There were yet stricter regula-
tions. If the ribbon was carelessly tied : " Stripes I
the fellow must be a Unitario." If the ribbon was
too short : " Stripes for the Unitario ! " And if a
man did not wear it at all, he was put to death for con-
tempt of the laws. The care of the governor for the
public education did not stop here. It was not enough
to be a Federal and to wear the red ribbon ; the
likeness of the illustrious Restanrador must be stamped
upon it, with the motto, " Death to the dirty savages,
Unitarios," and it must be worn near the heart in token
of deep love. It might be thought that the work of
- debasing a culUvated people and destroying all per-
nonal dignity, was now ended. But they were not yet
sufficiently disciplined. One morning a ridiculous
figure painted on paper, with a streamer of red ribbon
half a yard long, appeared at the comer of a street in
Buenos Ayres. The first person who saw it rushed
back, terrified, and gava the alarm. Immediately
every one hurried to the shops and soon appeared
wearing half a yard of ribbon. A few days after, a
slight alteration in the ribbon or the painted figure was
followed by the same result. If any ladies happened

142 LIFE IS THE ARGENTINE REPDBLIC.

to forget the red knots prescribed for them instead of
the ribbon, the police would most likely furnish them
one gratia — of melted tar ! Thus was uniformity of
opinion secured, and not a person was to be found who
was not a Federal, or did not imagine himself one.
It frequently happened that some one coming out of
his house found the end of the street swept, and in less
than a half hour the whole street was swept, the im-
pression having become general that there was a police
order to that effect.

One day a grocer pnt out a small flag to attract
customers ; the example was followed from house to
house, from street to street, until banners floated over
the whole city ; and the ofEcials thought that some
great news had come, unknown to them. And this
was the people who once forced eleven thousand Eng-
lish to surrender in the streets, and who afterward sent
five armies against the Spaniards I

The fact is, that terror is a mental disease which
attacks a people like cholera, small-pox, or scarlet fever.
Every one is liable to the contagion, and when the in-
oculation h.is been going on for ten years, it is doubtful
if even the vaccinated escape. Do not laugh then at
the sight of so much degradation. Remember that you
are Spaniards, and that the Inquisition educated Spain !
We bear this disease in our blood.
Let us now resume the thread of our history. Fa-
^cundo entered Tucuman in triumph, where he passed
several days without committing any remarkable* acts
of violence, and without imposing taxes ; for the con-
stitutional course of Rivadavia had given the people an
amount of knowledge which could not at once be ig-

l FACUNDO AND THE FEDERALS. 143

-nored. Facundo then relumed to Rioja, inimical to
the Presidency, though not knowing what motive to
give for this opposition, for he could not have explained
it to himself.

"I am not a Federal," he always said, "I am not
such a fool." " Do you know," he said once, to Don
Dalmacio Velez, " why I went to war ? For this,"
showing, as he spoke, an ounce of gold. This was not
true.

At other times he said, " Carril, governor of San
Juan, treated me very badly in paying no attention to
my recommendation of Carita, and for this I put my-
self in opposition to the Congress." This also was
fiilse. His enemies said, that he owned many shares in
the bank, and proposed to sell them to the national
government for three hundred thousand dollars. Riva-
davia rejected this proposition as a scandalous theft,
and from that time Facundo enlisted among his ene-
mies. This was true as a fact, but it was not his motive.
It was believed that he yielded to the suggestions of
Bustos and Ibarra in joining the opposition party ; but
there is a document which proves the contrary. In a
letter which he wrote in 1832 to General Madrid, he
said, " When I was invited by those two low fellows,
Bustos and Ibarra, I did not consider them capable of
making a successful opposition to that despot, President
Don Bemadino Rivadavia, and refused to join them ;
but jiaving been informed by Colonel Manuel del Cas-
tillo, aide-de-camp of Bustos, that you were engaged in
this affair, and much interested in it, I did not hesitate
a moment in deciding to join unconditionally ; counting

upon your sword alone for success What

was niv misfortune," etc.

144 LIFE IN THE ARGENTINE REPDBLIC.

So he considered it a fool's part to be a Federal !
Was it necessary then to be as ignorant as a country
commandanr to know what form of government was
most suitable for the Republic ? Was the least edu-
cated man most capable of judging of difficult political
questions? Were such thinkers as Lopez, Ibarra, and
Facundo, with their great historical, social, geographi-
cal, philosophical, and legal information to solve the
problem of the proper organization for a state ? Ah I
let us lay aside the vain words that have deceived so
many. Facundo turned against the government by
which he was sent to Tucuman, for the same reason
that he turned against Aldao who sent him to Rioja.
He found himself with the power and the will for ac-
tion ; and, impelled by a blind, vague instinct, he
obeyed it. He was commander of a company, a
gaucho-outlaw, an enemy of civil justice, of civil order,
of educated men, of savans, of the frock-coat, in a word^
of the city. He was ordained for the destruction of
these by Providence, and must needs fulfill his mission.

At this time a singular question arose to complicate
afiairs. In Buenos Ayrcs, the seaport and residence of
sixteen thousand foreigners, the governor granted these
foreigners liberty of conscience ; and the higher clergy
approved of and sustained this law. Convents of dif-
ferent orders had been already suppwloood, and the
priests provided for. In Buenos Ayres tliis matter
gave no trouble, for all were agreed upon necessity of
toleration. The question of liberty of conscience is in
South America a question of political economy, for it
implies European emigration and population. This
was so fully recognized in Buenos Ayres that even

THE BLACK FLAG. 145

Rosas tiid not dare to revoke tlie law of freedom ; and
that thing must be impossible, indeed, which Rosas
would not attempt.

In the provinces, however, this was a question of
religion, of salvation, and of eternal damnation. Imag-
ine how it would be considered in Cordova! In Cor-
dova, an inquisition was established. In San Juan,
there was a Catholic insui-rectiop.. so called to distin-
guish its party from the Libenawwte, their enemies.
This revolution having been suppressed in San Juan,
they found one day that Facundo was at the gates of
the city with a black flag, bearing a red cross, and the
device " Helioion ob Death ! "

As the reader will remember, I have quoted from a
manuscript that Facundo never went to confession, nor
lieai'd mass, nor prayed, and that be himself said he
believed in nothing. And yet partj- spirit led a cele-
brated preacher to call him one tent by God, to induce
many to follow his banner. When the eyes of this
■same priest were opened, and he withdrew fi-om the
wicked crusade which he had preached, Facundo said
he was only sorry, that he did not have liim at hand to
give him six hundred lashes.

On his arrival at Sau Juan, the chief men of the
city, the magistrates who had not fled, and the priests
grateful for this divine aid, went out to meet him,
forming two long files in the streets. Facundo passed
through without looking at them. They followed at a
distance, mortified, $nd exchanging glances in their
common humiliation, until they reached a clover pas-
ture, which this shepherd-general, this modem kicio,
chose for his quarters, and preferred to the fine edifices

146 LITE IN THE ARGENTINE REPDBLIC.

of the city. A negress, who had ntirsed him in his
infancy, came to see her boy Facuntlo. He seated her
hy his side and conversed affectionately with her,
while the priests and difjnitariea of the city stood nn-
accosted, the chief not even deigning to dismiss them.

The Catholics must have been somewhat doubtfiil
of the importance and divinity of the aid which came
to them in such an unexpected form, A few days
after, learning that the Cur^ of the Conception was
in fa%-or of free worship, Facundo caused him to be
arrested, tiirown into prison, and sentenced to death,
My Chilian readers must know that there were in San
Juan at tins time, priests, cnrfis, and monks, wlio be-
lieved in freedom of conscience, and belonged to the
party of the President. Among others the presbyter
Centeno, well-known in Santiago, together with six
others, was very zealous in the ecclesiastical reform.
Bat something must be done in the cause of religion, to
justify the device of the flag. With this laudable aim,
Facundo wrote to a priest of his party, asking his ad-
vice about the resolution he had formed to shoot all tlie
city authorities lor not having decreed the restitution
of the secular revenues of the clergy.

Tlic good priest, who had not foreseen tlie conse-
quences of arming crime in the name of God, felt some
scruple about such a mode of re])aration, and advised
that the ofRcials sliould be commanded to make the
necessary decrees.

Was there any real question of religion in the Argen-
tine Repnbhc? I should deny it utterly if I did not
know that the more barbarous and irreligions a people
is, the more hable it is to prejudice and fanaticism.

THS CATHOLIC PARTY AKD BELIGlON. 147

But llie masses did not move of their own accord,
and it is plain that those who adopted this device, Fa-
cnndo, Lopez, Bustos, etc., were completely indiffer-
ent. The religious wars of the fifteenth century in
Europe were maintained on both sides by sincere
believers, fanatical and devoted even to martyrdom,^
without political aims, and without ambition. The
Puritans read the Bible at the moment of going into
battle, prayed, and observed fasts and penances. The
spirit of a party is evidently sincere, when after tri-
umph it accomplishes ait and even more than it prom-
ised before the contest. When this result is wanting,
there is a deception in terms. When the so-called
Catholic parly had triumphed in the Argentine Repub-
lic, what did it do for religion or the interests of the
priesthood ?

As far as I know, it only drove out the Jesuits,
beheaded four respectable priests in Santos Lugares,
after having flayed their heads and hands, and carried
in procession the host and the portrait of Rosas side by
side, under a canopy- Did the Liberal party ever com-
mit such horrible profanations ?

But enough of this. While at San Juan, Facnndo
occupied his time in gambling ; leaving to the author-
ities the care of providing him with the sums necessary
to defray the expenses incurred in the defense of re-
ligion. All the time that he remained there he lived
in a tent on the clover field, ostentatiously dressed in
the chiripd, an intentional insult to a city where most
of the inhabitants used English saddles, and where
the barbarous dress and habits of the gauchos were
especially disliked, San Juan being an exclusively
agricultural province.

148 LIFE IH THE ARGENTINE EEPUBUC.

One more campaign against General Madrid at
Tucuman, completed ttie d^but of this new emir of
shepherds. General Madrid had resumed the govern-
ment of Tucuman, sustained by the whole province,
and Facundo tJiouglit it Ilia duty to dislodge him.
There was a new expedition, a new battle, and a new
victory. I omit the details with the exception of one
characteristic anecdote. Madrid had in the battle of
Rincon one hundred and ten infantry; and when the
combat ended, there were sixty dead, while of the
remaining fifty all except one were wounded. On the
following day Madrid declared himself again ready for
battle, but Quiroga sent one of his aides to say that
the action would begin by shooting the fifty prisoners
already kneeling to receive their fate. Madrid aban-
doned all further attempt at resistance.

In these three expeditions, in which Facundo tested
his power, there was no unusual effiision of blood and
but few outrages. It is true that in Tucuman he seized
upon some flocks and hides, and imposed heavy taxes
upon them, but aa yet there was no cowhiding of the
citizens, no outrages upon the women ; there were the
evils of conquest, but none of its horrors. The pas-
toral system liad not yet developed that brutality and
entire absence of restraint which afterwards character-
ized it.

What part had the legitimate governor of Rioja
in these expeditions? The government only existed
nominally ; all the real power was in the hands of
the "Provincial Commander," Blanco resigned the
office, overwhelmed with humiliations j and Aguero
assumed tlie government. One day, however. Qui-

AN EASY WAY OF PAYING DEBTS.

149

roga rode up to his door and said to him, "Sir, I
came to inform you that I have encamped with my
escort two milea from here." It is hardly necessary to
say that Aguero resigned. A new governor was now
to be chosen, and at the petition of the people, Qui-
roga condescended to nominate Galvan, who accepted
the office, but was assaulted the same night by a troop
of soldiers, and fled. Quiroga enjoyed the adventure
excessively. It is well to mention that the assembly
of representatives was composed' of men who did not
know how to read.

Facundo needed money for his first expedition to
Tucuman, and demanded of the treasurer of the bank
eight thousand dollars on account of his shares for
which he had never paid. lu Tucuman, he demanded
twenty-fivD thousand dollars to pay his soldiers, who
received none of it ; and some time after sent a bill of
eighteen thousand dollars to Dorrego to pay the cost
of the expedition made by order of the governor of
Buenos Ayres. Dorrego did not hesitate to satisfy so
just a demand. This sum was shared with Moral, the
governor of Rioja, who had suggested the idea. Sis
years afler, in Mendoza, he gave this same Moral seven
hundred lashes for his ingratitude. While Blanco
was governor, there was a dispute about a game of
cards, and Facundo, seizing his opposer by the hair,
shook him until his neck was broken. The body was
buried, and the man declared to have died a natural
deeUh.

When about to leave Tucuman, he sent a party of
soldiers to the house of one Sarate, who was shot at
his own door and ieh for his widow to bury ; the victim

150 LIFE IN THE ARGENTINE REPDBUC.

was a man of property and a peaceable citizen, but
well known for his bravery and contempt of Quiroga.
On his return from the expedition, Facundo happened
to meet with Gutierrez, ex-governor of Catamarca,
whom he persiiaded to go and live at Rioja. There
they were quite intimate for some time, but seeing
Gutierrez sun-ounded one day by some gaucho fiiends,
Facundo had him arrested and sentenced to death, to
the terror of all Rioja, for Gutierrez was much re-
spected, and had gained the affections of eveiy one,
The presbyter. Dr. Colina, and several other clergy-
men of high standing, petitioned that the miserable man
might at least have time to arrange his affairs and con-
fess his sins. " I see," answered Facundo, "that he
has many partisans here. Ho ! there ! Take these men
to prison and let them be shot instead of Gutierrez."
They attempted to flee, and two escaped ; one lost his hfe,
and the others were imprisoned; but Facundo laughed
loudly when he heard the adventure, and ordered them
to be set at hberty. Such scenes as tliis were frequent
between the priests and their aid " sent by Qod."

In San Juan he bad a negro dressed up as a priest,
and made him walk through the streets. In Cordova,
he refused to receive any one except Dr. Castro Bar-
ros. with whom he had an account to arrange. In
Menduza, he walked to ilie place of execution by the
side of a priest whom he had condemned to death ; he
did the same with the cur^ of Alguia and the prior of
Tucuman. It is true that in these cases he did not go
so far as to have the sentence actually executed, but
it was a great terror and humiliation to the clergy-
men ; yet in spite of all this, the old people and bigots

RTVADAVIA RESIGNS.

151

still offered prayers to hesven for the success of his
arms.

But the story of Gutierrez is not quite ended yet
Fifteen days later he received a sentence of exile, and
an escoit was to conduct him beyond the boundaries.
The party having encamped for the nigiit, a fire was
made to cook suppf r, and while Gutierrez was stooping
to blow the scarcely lighted sticks, the chief official
struck him on the head with a staff, and blows from
others followed, until his brains were literally knocked

These were some of the events which took place in
Facundo's first attempt at union in the Republic, for
these were but attempts; the time had not yet come
for the alliance of the pastoral powers by which the
Repubhc was to be reorganized. Rosas was already
famous in the province of Buenos Ayres, though he
bore no titles as yet ; nevertheless he was busy in his
own Cause. The constitution proposed bv Congress
was rejected wherever the provincial commanders had
any influence. When the government deputy pre-
sented himself in Santiago del Estero, in his official
dress, Ibarra received Jiim in shirt-sleeves and ckiripd.
Rivadavia resigned the presidency because the prov-
inces were opposed to him, — "but barbarism will soon
be down upon us," he added, after his farewell. He
did well to resign. Rivadavia's mission was to present
before us the constitutionalism of Benjamin Constant
with all its empty woi-da, its deceptions, and absurdi-
ties. Rivadavia did not know that when the civiliza-
tion and liberty of a people are in (juestion, a ruler has
great responsibilities both to God snd future genera-

152

LIFE IN THE ABGENTINE REPUBLIC.

tions ; and that there is neither charity nor compassion
in abandoning a nation for thirty years to the devasta-
tion of the first ruthless sword that ofiers. Communi-
ties in their infancy are like children who foresee
nothing and understand nothing, and need men of
knowledge and foresight to guide them.

CHAPTER XT.

CIVIL WAR, — TABLADA, t

The presidency had falleti amid the hissings and
rejoicing! of its enemies. Dorrego, the ahle leader
of the opposition in Buenos Ayres, was the friend of
the governors of the interior, who were his abettors
and supporters in the Provincial Congress in which he
was triumphant. Victorv was no longer with the Re-
public in its foreign wars ; and, though its arms had
met witli no disasters in Brazil, the necessity for peace
was evervwhere felt. The opposition of the provincial
leaders had weakened the army by destroying regi-
ments, or refusing to furnish recruits. An apparent
tranquillity reigned in the interior, hut the earth trem-
bled ; strange rumors were afloat. The newspapers
of Buenos Ayres were filled with gloomy prophecies.
Threats came altite from the government and the oppo-
sition. The administration of Dorrego began to show a
want of strength, because the party of the city, called
Federal, which had established it, had not the power to
.sustain itself with honor after the fall of the presidency.
iThe new administration, far from resolving any of the

164 LIFE IN THE AHGENTINE REPDBLIC.

questions which divided the Republic, showed, on the 1
contrary, all the weakness of Federahsm. Dorrego
was essentially Buenos Ayrean in his sympathies, and j
had Httle regard for the fate of the provinces. He had
promised the provincial leaders and communities to do
all he could to favor the interests of the former and
to insure the rights of the latter ; but, having once
obtained the government, he said to his immediate
iriends, " What is it to us if the petty tyrants carry
things with a high hand ? What are the four thousand
dollars' salary to Lopez, or llie eighteen thousand to
Quiroga, to us who control the seaport, and a custom-
house that brings us in a million and a half, which that
stupid Rivadavia wished to convert into national rev-
enue?" Let us not forget that the motto of egotism is
always " Each for himself." Dorrego and his party"
did not foresee that the provinces would come some day
to punish Buenos Ayres for having refused them its
civilizing influence ; and that, because of the indiffer-
ence to their ignorance and barbarism, this very igno-
rance and barbarism would penetrate into the streets of
Buenos Ayres and take up its quarters even in tlie fort.
But Dorrego might have seen it, if he or his party
had had better eyes. Here were the provinces at the
gates of the city, only waiting an occasion to invade it.
From the time of tlie fall of the presidency tlie de-
crees of the civil authorities could not be enforced
beyond the suburbs of the city. Dorrego had em-
ployed, as an instrument of opposition, this outside
resistance ; and, when his party triumphed, he be-
stowed upon his ally beyond the walls the title of com-
mander-in-chief of the provinces. What logic of the

DORBEGO AKD THE DNITARIOS.

155

sword is it that makes the rank of commander-in-chief
of the provinces a necessary step in the ele%'ation of a
military leader ? Wliere this rank does not exist, as
was then the case in Buenos Ayres, it is created ex-
pressly ; as if, before letting the wolf into the fold, it '
was necessary to expose him to general observation.

Dorrego afterward found that the provincial com-
mander, who had caused the presidency to totter, and
had contribnted so powerfully to overthrow it, was a
lever perpetually applied to the government ; and that
when Rivadavia had fallen, and Dorrego was in his
place, the lever still continued its action, Dorrego and
Roaas were face to face, each watching and threatening
the other. Dorrego's friends recall his favorite phrase,
— " Tlie gaucho-rogue ! Let him be as troublesome as
he pleases ; and when he is least expecting it, I will
shoot him." This was just what the Ocampos said
when they first felt Quiroga's heavy arm upon them.

Indifferent to the people of the interior, not in high
favor with the Federal party of the city, and already in
antagonism with the provincial power which he bad
called to his aid, Dorrego, who had obtained the
government through parliamentary opposition, now
tried to win the Unilarios, whom be had conquered ;
bat parties have neither charity nor foresight. The
Unitarios laughed in their sleeves, and said among
themselves, "He totters, let him fall," The Unitarios
did not understand that with Dorrego would fall those
who miglit have interposed between them and the
provinces ; or that tlie monster whom they feared was
not seeking Dorrego, but the city, the civil institutions,
of which they themselves were the exponents.

156 LIFE IN THE ARGENTINE EEPDBLIC.

Things were in this rondition when peace was con-
eluded with Brazil, and the first division of the army,
commanded by Lavalle, was disbanded. Dorrego
knew well the spirit of these veterans of the War of
Independence, who, covered with wounds, and grown
gray in the service, liad obtained only the rank of
colonels, majors, or captains : two or three, perhaps,
becoming generals ; while in the interior of the Re-
public, without ever having passed the frontiers, were
dozens of loaders, who, in four years, had been raised
from the rank of gaucho-outJaws to that of command-
ers ; from commanders to generals, and from generals
to absolute masters of provinces. Need we look for
any other motive for the implacable hatred of the
veterans for these men ? What liad tliev to anticipate,
now that the new order of things had taken from them
the hope of entering the capital of Brazil as conquer-
ors?

On the 1st of December, two companies of regulars
were drawn up in Victoria Square. Governor Dorrego
had fled to tlie country, and the Unitarios filled the air
with shouts of triumph. A few days afterward, seven
hundred cuirassiers, commanded by general officers,
went out through Peru Street toward the pampas to
meet several thousand gauchos and Indians, together
with a few soldiers, commanded by Dorrego. For a
moment the field of Navarro was covered with the
dead, and the following day an officer, now in the
service of Chili, brought in Dorrego as prisoner. An
hour later, the body of Don-ego lay pierced with
balls. The officer who had ordered his execution an-
nounced it to the city in the following terms : —

THE EXECUTION OF DORBEGO. 157

" I have tbu honor of informing the deputy-governor that Colo-
nel ilnriuel Dorre^o haa ju^t heen ihot hy m_v order, in front of
the ropnicnta whioh compose this division. Historj' mil! judpe
imparUally trhetber Seuor Dorrego should have lived or died ; or
whether in sacriScini; him for the pfsc-e of a eity, brought lo
grief by him, 1 could have bad any other motive than that of the
public good. I^ct the people of Bueiioa Ayres be persuaded that
the death of Colonel Uorrego is the greatest sacrifii^e that 1 could
make for tbcm.

" I salute, Seuor, the minister niih all due consideration.

'■ JUAX I.AVALLE."

Was Lavalle wrong? It is needless to add another
affirmative in support of those who, after seeing the
consequences, assumed tlie easy task of criticizing his
motives. If an evil exists, it is in things not in persons.
When CiEsar was assassinated, he i-e-Jived more terrible
than ever in Octaviua. Lavalle did not then know-
that in killing the body he could not kill the spirit ; and
that political personages take their character and ex-
istence from the ideas, interests, and ends of the party
they represent. If Lavalle had shot Rosas instead of
Dorrego, perhaps he would have saved the world from
a great scandal, humanity from a great ojjprobrium, and
tlie Republic from much blood and many tears ; but,
even if Rosas had been siiot, the provinces would still
have had representatives ; and there would have been
only the cliange of one historical picture for another.
But what people pretend to ignore to-day, is, that — not-
withstanding the purely personal responsibility of the
deed, as far as Lavalle is concerned — the death of Dor-
rego was a necessary consequence of the prevailing
ideas of. tha_lim^e ; and that by this act the soldier who
was brave enough to defy history, only accomphshed

158 LIFE IN THE ARGENTINE BEPUBLIC.

the avowed wish of the citizens. What had interfered
with the proclamation of the Constitution of 1826 but
the hostility of Ibarra, Lopez, Bustoa, Quiroga, Ortiz,
and the Aldaos, each of whom ruled a province, and
some of whom influenced the others? Now, what
would appear so reasonable at that time, and to those
men wlm reasoned d priori, as to get rid of what they
considered the only obstacle to the desired organization
of the Republic ? '

These pohtical errors wiiich belonged to the time
-rather than to the men, are yet worthy of considera-
tion, for upon them depend the explanation of many
social phenomena. Lavalle in shooting Dorrego, just
as he would have shot Bnstos, Lopez, Facundo, and
others of that class, only fulfilled the requirements of
his time and party. Even in 1834 there were stili
men in France who believed that if they could get rid
of Louis Philippe, the French Republic would revive
in all tbe greatness and glory of the past I Perhaps
also the death of Dorrego was one of those fated events
which form the nucleus of history, without which it
would be incomplete and unmeaning. Civil war had
been long threatening tbe Republic. Rivadavia had
foreseen it with all its horrors ; Facundo had uncon-
sciously kept his hordes on the slopes of the Andes in
waiting tor this event ; and Rosa»' private life bad
been a ten years' preparation towards tiie same end.
Dorrego was in the way of all parties : of the Unitarios,
for they despised him ; of the provincial leaders, for he'
had proved useless to them ; and in that of Rosas, be-
cause he was impatient of keeping under the shadow of
the city parties, and eager to obtain the government,

THE COMING CAUFAIGN. 159

or in other words, to become what lie was not, and
could never be, that is, a Federal, in the strict sense of
the term. He represented the third social element,
which from Artigas to Facundo had been eager to
show itself without disguise, and to measure its strength
with that of European civilization. If Dorrego had
not died, it does not follow that the craving thirst of
Facundo would have been quieted, or that Rosas would
have failed to represent the provinces in the struggle
which had begun long before 1820. Ko, Lavalle only
lighted the match which was to fire the mine long ago
prepared by both Unitarios and Federals.

From this moment there was nothing for the timid
but to stop their ears and shut their eyes. All others
everywhere rushed to arms ; the tread of horsemen was
heard over the pampas, and the cannon's black mouth
was seen at the gates of the cities.

We must now leave Buenos Ayres to see what is
passing in the other .provinces. It must be mentioned,
by the way, that Lopez, having been beaten in several
encounters, sued in vain for reasonable terms of peace ;
and that Rosas had serious thoughts of going over to
the side of Brazil. Lavalle refused to share in any of
the transactions, and was soon put down ; here was the
true Unitario disdain of the gaucho, and faith in the
final triumph of the " city." If Lavalle had adopted
another line of conduct and kept the seaport in the
hands of the citizens, might not the cruel Pampas Crov-
ernment have been prevented ?

Facundo was in his element. A campaign was about
to begin ; expresses rushed to and fro ; the feudal system
of independence was to become a confederation of war.

160 LIFE IN THE ABGENTINE REPUBLIC.

Everything was put in requisition for the coming cam-
paign, and it was found unnecessary to go to tlie banks
of ilie La PJata for a good battle-field. General Paz,
with eight hundred veterans, had gone to Cordova,
fought and conquered Bustos, and taken possession of
tiie city, which was but a step from the Llanos, and
within reach of the cries from the "montoneras" of the
Sierra Cordova,

Facundo hastened his preparations; he longed for a.
personal encounter with a one-armed general who could
not manage a Jance or flourish a sword. What could
Paz hope for in an encounter with the conqueror of
Colonel Madrid ? Facundo was to be joined by Don
Felix Aldao, a friar general from Mendoza, with a
regiment of trained auxiliaries equipped entirely in
red ; and without waiting for a force of seven hun-
dred regulars from San Juan, he set out for Cordo'-a
with four thousand men, eager to measure arms with
the cuirassiers of the second division and their officers.

The batth' ff Tablii'i- h so well known that details
are unnecessary. It l!n^ been brilliantly described in
the " Revue des deux Mondes ; " but there is one fact
worth remembering, Facundo attacked the city with
all his army! and was repulsed for a day and night by
one hundred young clerks, thirty mechanics, and seven
sick soldiers, from behind slight breastworks defended
by only four pieces of artillery. And it was only when
he announced his intention of burning the beautiful
city, that they consented to surrender the place. Know-
ing that Paz was approaching, he left his infantry as
useless, and went out to meet him with a cavalry force
at least three times as large as the army of his opp&-

TABLADA AND CORDOVA. 161

nent ; then came hard fighting, and the cavalry charged
again and again, but in vain. That mass of horsemen,
though surrounding tlie eight hundred veterans, were
driven hack every moinenl, and compelled to return to
the charge. The lance of Quiroga forcing back his
own retreating men, caused as much terror in the rear
of his army as the guns and swoi-ds of the enemy in
front, fiut all was in vain ; it i\-as like the raging
billows of the sea beating against a rough, motionless
rock ; sometimes, indeed, it is engulfed by the angry
waves, but its black summit presently reappears firm
and unshaken. Of the eight hundred auxiliaries only
sixty survived, and of the six hundred red cavalry, not
a third were living ; the numerous other companies
lost all discipline, and fled in every direction. Facundo
retreated to the city, and the nest day lay with his
guns and infiintry like a tiger in ambush : but all was
Boon over, and fifteen hundred dead bodies proved bow
obstinate the contest had been on both sides.

The battles of Tablada and Cordova were trials of
strength between tlie provincial anu city forces under
their great leaders,. Facundo and Paz, worthy repre-
sentatives of the two powers which were struggling for
dominion in the Republic. Facundo, ignorant, barba-
rous, for the greater part of his Hfe an outlaw, and fa-
mous only for his acts of desperation ; brave to rash-
ness, endowed with herculean strength, always upon
his horse, which he managed skillfully through terror
and violence, knowing no other power than that of
brute force, had no faith but in his horse, and depended
for success upon bravery, the lance, and the terrible
charges of his cavalry. In all the Argentine Kepublic

l62 LIFE IN THE AEGENTISE KErUBLIC.

there was not a more perfect specimen of the " gaucho
vialo."

Paz, on the contrary, was a true son of the city, and
representative of the power of civilization. Lavalle,
Madrid, and others like them, were native Argentines;
cavalry officers, as brilliant as Murat, perhaps, but the
cuirass and epaulets conld not hide the gauciio nature.
But Paz was a Enropean soldier, and only believed in
braverj- as subordinate to tactics, strategy, and disci-
pline. He hardly knew how to ride, and having only
one hand, could not use a lance. A very largo army
was unwieldy and troublesome to him ; what he liked,
was a small number of soldiers thoroughly disciplined.
A regiment of his training was sure to be perfect of its
kind, and could he have selected his own battle-fields,
the fate of the Republic would have been secure. He
was in spirit a European soldier, even to the arms he
used ; he was an artillery officer, and therefore math-
ematical and scientific. A battle was a problem which
he could solve by equations, and foretell the unknown
quantity — that is, the victory. General Paz was not
a genius, but an able officer, who employed science
where others made use of brute force ; in a word, he
was the representative of European civilization, which
was in a fair way to die out in our country. Unfortu-
nate General Paz I Honor be to thee in thy repeated
disasters ! With tliee are the liousehold gods of the
Republic ! Destiny has not yet decided between thee
and Rosas, between the cities and the pampas, be-
tween the blue stripe and the red ribbon ! Tliou hast
the only quality of mind that in the end conquers brute
force, — tiie quality in which lav the power of the old

GESEE4L PAZ. 163

martj-rs 1 Thou hast faith. Faith has saved thee, and
in tliee is the only hope of the Republic.

There 13 certainly a destiny altout this man. He
alone, in the ill-advised revolution of the first of De-
cember, was able to justify it by victory. Taken at
last from the head of his army by the irresistible power
of the gaucho, he was kept ten years in prison, Rosas,
even, not daring to kill him, as if a guardian angel
watched over his life. He escaped almost miracu-
lously one stormy night, and through the rough waters
of the La Plata, reached the eastern bank. Repulsed at
one place, and disappointed at anpther, he at last
obtained command of the few remaining forces of a
province which had seen three armies successively
destroyed. From such remnants he again gathered
with much care and patience means of resistance, and
when the armies of Rosas had triumphed evervwhere,
and carried terror throughout the Republic, tiie one-
armed general called aloud from the marshes of Cagu-
azu, " The Republic still lives ! '' Afterwards, de-
spoiled of his laurels by tliose he had served, and igno-
miniously taken from the head of his army, he sought
refuge among his enemies in Entre Rios, where the
very elements seemed to protect liira, and even the
gauchos of the forest Montiel did not have it in their
hearts to kill the one-armed man who harmed no one.
At last he reached Montevideo, and learned that Ri-
bera had been defeated, probably because he was not
there to take the enemy in his own snares. The whole
city was in consternation, and hurried to the poor
lodging of the fugitive to beg for advice and comfort.
" If I can only have twenty days, they will not take

164 LIFE IN THE ARGENTINE REPDBLTC.

the city," was the only answer, given, not with enthu-
siasm, but with mathematical certainty. Oribe gave
Paz all lie asked for, and three years have passed since
that day of terror at Montevideo, When he had
secured the place well, and accustomed the garrison to
fight daily as a matter of course, he went to Brazil and
remained longer than was" agreeable to his friends, and
when Rosas was hoping to hear of him in the hands of
the imperial police, he learned that he was at Cor-
i-ientes training six thousand men ; that lie had formed
an alliance with Paraguay, and also that Brazil had
invited France and England to take part in the con-
test ; so that the question between the provinces and
the cities bad now become a struggle between the
one-armed, scientific Paz and the gaucho barbarian
Rosas ; between the Pampas on one side and Para-
guay, Uruguay, Brazil, England, and France on the
gther.

It was especially to the honor of General Paz that
even the enemies he had fought with neither hated nor
feared bim personally. The "Gaceta"' of Kosas, so
prodigal of its calumniations, never succeeded in abus-
ing him thoroughly, a proof that he inspired his very
detractors with respect. Many of the followers of Rosas
in their hearts admired Paz, and the old Federals never
forgot that he had always protected them from the fury
of the old Unitarios. Who knows if Providence, which
holds in its hand the fate of nations, has not preserved
this man through many dangers to aid in the recon-
struction of the Republic under laws which permit
liberty without license, and do not need to be enforced
by violence. Paz is a provincial by birth, a guarantee

LIBERAL ELEMENT IN CORDOVA. 165

that he would never sacrifice the provinces to Buenos
Ayres and the port, as Rosas has done to obtain mill-
ions while lie impoverishes the people of the interior ;
just what the Federals had accused tlie Congress of 1826
of wishing to do.

The conquest of Tablada was the beginning of a
new era for the city of Cordova, which, until then,
according to the message of General Paz to the pro-
vincial representatives, "■' had occupied the lowest place
among the Argentine cities, constantly opposing effort
towards the construction of a constitution for the
nation, or for its own province, either under the rule
of Federals or Unitarios."

However, Cordova, like all the Argentine cities, con-
tained its liberal element, but kept under until then by
an absolute and conservative government like that of
Bustos. From the moment that Paz entered the city,
this element appeared openly, and showed how much it
had strengthened during nine years of tliat Spanish
government.

I have before described Cordova as antagonistic in
spirit to Buenos Ayres ; there is one circumstance in
favor of its future development. The inhabitants have
the greatest possible respect for learning, an effect pro-
duced by the univei-sity of two centuries standing.
The love of learning presupposes a certain degree of
civilization, so that notwithstanding the conservative
nature and direction of the studies, there must be in
Cordova a large number in favor of progressive cul-
ture and intelligence. This respect for learning ex-
tends even to the lower classes of society, and this
explains why the masses embraced the revolution with

1G6 LIFE IN THE ARGEXTINE REPCBUC.

an ardor which ten years have not abated, and which
has fumiaheii' many victims for the vengeance of the
Mazorqueros.

Paz brought with him an interpreter who should
explain his ideas and objects to the common people —
Barcala, the negro colonel, who had so gloriously dis-
tinguished himself in Brazil, and was on an equahty
with the chief officers of the anny: Barcala the freed-
man, who had devoted himself to the task of interest-
ing the working classes in a revolution wliich regarded
neither color nor class in rewarding true merit. This
Barcala was, as far as possible, to make the change of
ideas and aims popular among the citizens ; and he
succeeded beyond the most sanguine expectations.
The middle classes of Cordova were from that time in
favor of civil order and progressive civilization.

The young men of Cordova were distinguished in
tilt' war for their disinterested devotion to the cause;
many fell on the field of battle, or under the knife of
the assassin, and still more were condemned to the
pains of exile. In the battles of San Juan, the bodies
of Cordovian " doctors " lay piled in the streets, ob-
structing the artillery that they were carrying against
the enemy.

On the other hand, the clergy, who had encouraged
the opposition to Congress and the constitution, h^d
had time to measure the abyss to which civilization
would be brought by such defenders of the faith as
Facundo, Lopez, etc., and did not hesitate to declare
in favor of General Paz.

Thus the " doctors " and young men, the clergy as
well as the masses, were now of one opinion, and ready

TREATY WITH LOPEZ OF SANTA FE.

167

to Uphold the principles implied in the new order of
things ; and Paz could at once begin to reorganize the
province and to establisli friendly relations with others.
A treaty was confirmed with Lopez of Santa F(5, who
was induced, by Don Domingo de Oro^ to join Paz,'
Salta and Tncnman had already submitted, and only
the western provinces remained hostile.

1 Domiiif^D de On) wKS a nnble pttriot, vho opposed Rosaa at tb« cost
of srnything Ihnt rnnkea life dear.

3 Gtncnl Paz, late Vice-Pie a ids dl of the Argectine Republic, died of
cholera within thii jeu.

What has become of Facundo in the mean time ?
At Tahlada he had lost everything, — arms, officers,
men, reputation ; everything except rage and valor.
Moral, governor of Rioja, taken aback by the news
of this unlooked-for disaster, availed himself of a
slight excuse for leaving the city, and fi-ora Safiogasta
sent Quiroga a despatch offering him what assistance
the province could afford. Before the expedition the
friendship between this nominal governor and the all-
powerful commander had somewhat cooled. Quiroga
- thought he had not had the full number of armed men
that he considered due him from the result of the
census, in addition to the troops already in the
province, and which had come from Tucuman, San
Juan, Catamarca, etc. And another circumstance
strengthened the suspicions with which Quiroga re-
garded the governor. Sanogasta was the manorial
residence of the Donas Davilas, the enemies of the
commander ; and the governor, foreseeing what the
suspicions of Facundo would deduce from the date of
the despatch, dated it from Uanchin, a place about
four leagues distant. But Quiroga knew that Moral
was in SaSogasta, and all his doubts were confirmed.
Fontanel and Barceua, two of Facuudo's odious in-

■ THE MDBDEREE BARCENA. 169

strnments, were sent out with a party to scour the
country for the purpose of impressing as many men
as they could find, but the inhabitants took care to
esca[w, so that they were not veiy successful in their
day's hunt, and returned with only eleven persons
who were shot upon the ppot. Don Inocencio Moral,
an uncle of the governor, with his two sons, one
only fourteen years of age, were among the victims
of that day. There was also among them a Don
Mariano Pasos, who had once before incurred the
anger of Quirnga. When lie was starting on one of
his previous espeditions, this man, seeing the disor-
derly troops, had said to a fellow-merchant, " What
men for fighting!" Quiroga hearing it, had the two
criticizers brought before him ; one was tied to a post
and received two hundred lashes, while the other stood
by awaiting his share. The latter, however, was
spared when his turn came, and afterwards became
the governor of Rioja and a great friend of Quiroga.

Meanwhile, Governor Moral, knowing what he
might expect, fled from the province, but he was
eventually caught, and received seven hundred lashes
for his ingratitude, for it was be who had shared the
eighteen thousand dollars extorted from Dorrego.

That Barcena before mentioned was ordered to
assassinate the commissioner of the English mining
company ; and I heard from himself the details of this
atrocious mnrder, which he committed in his own
house, desiring his wife and children to stand oat of
the way of the balls and sword-cuts.

Barcena accompanied Oribe in his expedition to Cor-
dova; and duiing a hall given in honor of the triumph

170

LIFE IN THE ARGENTINE REPUBLIC.

over Lavftlle, threw the bloody heads of three young
men into the hall where their families were dancing.
This Barcena was the leader of the band of Mazorque-
ro3 which went with the army sent to Cordova in per-
secution of Lavalle, a reg:u]arly organized band, each
Mazorquero wearing at his side a knife witli a blade -
curved like a small cimeter, which was invented by
Rosas himself for the purpose of beheading men dex-
terously.

AVIiat motive could Quiroga have bad for these atro-
cities ? He is said to have told Oro at Meudoza that his
only object was to inspire terror. And again, during
the continual assassinations of wretched peasants, on
his'way to the head-quarters at Atiles, one of the Vil-
lafaties said to him in a tone of fear and compassion.
"Is it not enough. General?" "Don't be a fool,"
Quiroga answered; "how else can I establish my
power ! " This was his one method, — terror with the
citizen, that he might fly and leave bis fortune ; terror
with the gaucho, to make him support a cause in which
he had no personal interest. With him terror took the
place of administrative power, enthusiasm, tactics,
everything. And it cannot be denied that terror, as a
means of government, produces much larger results
than patriotism or liberty. Russia has made use of it
from the time of Ivan, and has conquered the most
barbarous nations ; the bandits of the forest obey the
chief, wielding this power which controls the fiercest
natures. It is true that it degrades men, impoverishes
them, and takes from them all elasticity of mind, but
it extorts more from a slate in one day than it would
have given in ten years ; and what does the rest matter-

TUE STORT OF SETERA.

171

to the Czar of Russia, the bandit chief, or the Argen-
tine commander ?

Facundo ordered all the inhabitants of Rioja to emi-
grate to the Llanos under pain of death, and the order
was literally obeyed. It is hard to find a motive for
this useless emigration. Quiroga was not apt to fear,
yei he mig ht '?■*«» feared at the moment ; fnr the Uni-
tarios were raising an army in Mendoza ts take' pos-
session of the government ; Tucuman and Salta were
on the north ; and on the east, Cordova, Tablada, and
General Paz ; he was,, therefore, pretty well sr--
rounded, and a general hunt mignt ■very well have
brought the Tiger of the Llanos at bay. These terror-
ists do have their moments of fear. Rosas cried hke
a child when he heard of the rehellion at Chascomus,
and eleven huge trunks were packed with'his effects
readv to fly an hour before news came of the victory
of Alvarez. But woe to the people when such mo-
ments have passed ! Then follow Septfmher massacrei,
and pyramids of human heads arise in the squares !

Notwithstanding the order of Facundo, two persons
remained in Rioja — a young girl and a priest. The
story of Severa Villafaile is a pitiful romance ; a fairy
tale in which the lovehest princess is a wandering fugi-
tive, sometimes disguised as a shepherdess, sometimes
begging a morsel of bread, or for protection from a
frightful giant, — a cruel Bluebeard. Severa had the
misfortune to excite the lust of the tyrant, and made
superhuman efforts to escape his persecution. It was
not only virtue resisting seduction, but the unconquer-
able repugnance of a delicate woman wlio detests those
coarse types of brute force. A beautiful woman will

172 LIFE la THE ARGENTINE REPUBLIC.

sometimes barter something of her honor for something
of the glory which surrounds a celebrated man ; not
for the glory which depends on the debasement of
others for its brilliancy, but the glory which was the
cause of Madame de Maintenon's frailty, or the literary
glory to which Madame Roland and other such women
are said to have sacrificed their reputations. For
■whole years Severa resisted. At one time slie came
near being poisoned by her tiger ; at another, Quiroga,
in a fit of desperation, tried to poison liimself with
opium. Once she escaped with difficulty from the
hands of some of his creatures, and again she was sur-
prised by Quiroga in licr own court-yard, where he
seized her by tlie arm, boat her with his fist until she
was covered with blood, then threw her upon the
ground and kicked in her skull with the heel of his
boot. And was there no one to protect this poor girl,
no relatives, no friends ! One might well think so ;
yet she belonged to the first families of Rioja ; Gen-
eral Villafaile was her uncle, she had brothers who
witnessed the outrages ; and there was a cur4 who
shut the doors against her when she sought a refuge in
tlie sanctuary. Finally, Severa fled to Catamarca and
went into a convent ; two years afterwards, when
Facundo was passing through that place, he forced his ■■
way into the convent, and ordered the nuns into his
presence ; at the sight of him one nun uttered a cry
and fell senseless upon the floor — it was Severa.

But we must return to the encampment at Atiles,
where an army was preparing for the purpose of recov-
ering the reputation lost at Tablada. Two Unitarios
of San Juan had fallen into the hands of the tyrant :

RANSOMS. 173

a young Chilian by the name of Castro y Calvo, and
Alexandro Carnl. Qutroga asked the latter how
much he would give for his life.

" Twenty-five thousand dollars," he answered, tremb-
ling.

" And you, air," asked Quiroga, of tlie other, " how
much will you give ? "

" I can only give four thousand," said Castro. " I
am only a merchant and have no property."

They sent to San Juan for the money, and behold
thirty thousand dollars collected for the war at a very
small cost. While waiting for the money, Facundo
lodged them under a carob-Iree, and employed them
in making cartridges, paying them two reals a day for
their work.

The governor of San Juan, hearing of the efforts
made by the family of Carril to collect tliis random,
took advantage of the knowledge. As goverrit#^f the
city he could not exactly shoot his own citizens, though
ut i nd apa n de n t Federal, and neither did he have the
power to extort money from the Unitarios. But he
ordered all the ^oti t i oit l pr i aone r! in the gaols to be
sent to the camp at Atiles to join the army. The
mothers and wives understood what fate they were to
expect, and first one, and then another and another,
BQCceeded in scraping toggther the sums necessary to
keep back their sons and husbands from tlie den of the
Tiger. Thus Quiroga governed in San Juan merely
by the terror of his name.

When the brothers Aldao were all powerful in Men-
doza, and had not left in Rioja one man, old or young,
married or single, who was able to carry arms, Facundo

17i LIFE IN THE ARGENTINE EEPUBLIC.

transported his head-quarters to San Juan, where there
were still many wealthy Unitarios. There lie soon
ordered six hundred laslies to a citizen noted for his
influence, talent, and wealth, and walked himself by
the side of the cart which carried his expiring victim
tlirough the streets ; for Facnndo was very careful
about this part of his administration ; and not at all
like Rosas, who, from his private room where he was
taking Jiis mat^, sent Mazorqueros to execute the atroci-
ties afterward charged upon the federal enthusiasm of
the people. Not thinking this example sufficient, Fa-
cuiido seized upon an old man, whom he accused — or
scarcely troubled himself to accuse — of having served
as a guide to some fugitives, and had him shot without
permitting him to speak a word ; for this iieavcn-sent
defender of the faith cared very little whetlier his vic-
tims confessed or not,

Puhlic opinion being thus prepared, there were no
sacrifices the city of San Juan was not ready to make
for tiie defense of tli£ ©wifederation ; contributions
■ were given in without remonstrance, and arms ap-
peared as if by magic. The Aldaos triumplied in the
incapacity of the Uniiarios to violate the treaty of Pilar,
and then Quii-oga left for Mendoza. There no addi-
tional teiTor was needed, for the dally executions
ordered by the monk Aldao had paralyzed the city ; but
Facundo thought it necessary to justify the terror car-
ried everywhere by his name. Some young men of
San Juan had been made prisoners, and these, at least,
belonged to him. He asked one of them how many
guns he could furnish by the end of four days ; the
young man answered that if he might have time to

A SPARK OF HUMANITY. ] "o

send to Chili for them, he would do all lie could.
Quiroga repeated, " How many can you furnish now ? "

"None," was the answer; and the nexi moment his
body was taken away to be buried, six others soon fol-
lowing. The same question was put orally or in
writing to llic prisoners from Mendoza, and the answers
were more or less satisfactorj-. Among these was a
General Alvarado, who was brought before Facundo.

" Sit down, General," he said. " How soon can you
deliver six thousand dollars for your ransom ? "

" Sir, I cannot bring it at all ; I have no money,"

" But you have friends who would not let you be
shot," said Quiroga.

" No, sir ; I have none. I was only passing through
the province when I was induced by the public wish to
take charge of the government."

" Where would you like to go ? " continued Qui-
roga, after a moment of silence.

" Wherever you may order, sir."

" What do you think of San Juan ? "

" Just as you please, sir."

" How much money do you need ? "

"None, I thank you, sir."

Facundo went to a desk and opening a bag of gold,
said, " Take what you need, General."

" Thanks, sir, nothing."

An hour later the carriage of General Alvarado was
at his door with his baggage in it, and also General
Villat'afle, who conducted him to San Juan, and on his
arrival there, gave him a hundred ounces of gold from
Genei-al Quiroga, begging him not to refuse it.

This would seem to prove that Quiroga's heart was

176 LIFE IN THE ARGENTINE BEPDBLIC.

not entirely dead to noble impressions. Alvarado was
an old soldier, a grave and prudent general, wlio had
given him no trouble. He afterward said of him, — •
" That Alvarado is a good soldier, but he doesn't un-
derstand our warfiire."

At San Juan they brought before him a Frenchman
named Barreau, who liad written about him as only a
Frenclinian can write. Facundo asked him if he was
the author of the abusive articles, and was answered in
the affirmative.

" Then what do you expect ? "

" Death, sir ; " said the man ; but Quiroga threw him
a purse, saying, " There, take that, and go somewhere
else to be hung."

At Tucuman, Quiroga one day lay stretched on a
bench, when an AndalusJan came up and asked for the
General.

" He is in there," said Quiroga ; " what do you
want with him?"

"I have come to pay the four hundred dollars' con-
tribution he has charged upon me, — the fellow gets
his living easy."

" Do you know the General, friend?"

" No, and I don't want to know him, the rogue ! "

*'Come in and take a drink," raid Quiroga, but at
that moment an aide came up, and began : " Gen-
eral ."

" General ! " cried the man, opening his eyes, " so
you are the General ! Ah, General," he contin-
ued, falling on his knees, "I am a poor devil, — you
wouldn't be the ruin of me, — the money is all ready.
General, — come, don't be angry, now ! "

ONCATITO. 177 ,

Facundo burst into a loud laugh, told the man to
make himself easy, and giving him batk the contribu-
tion, only took two hundred of it as a loan, which he
afterwai-ds faithfully repaid. Two years after this, a
paralyzed beggar called out to him in the streets of
Buenos Ayres, —

" Good-bye, General, I am the Andalusian of Tucu-
man, and I'm paralyzed," Facundo gave him six
dollars.

These things prove the theory, which like modem
drama has exhibited with so much brilliancy, namely,
that in the darkest characters of history there will
always he found a ray of light, however totally it
seems sometimes to vanish.

But let us resume the course of public events. After
the solemn inauguration of terror in Mendoza, Facundo
retired to Retamo, whither the Aldao brothera had car-
ried a contribution of a hundred thousand dollars ex-
torted from the Unitarios. There they gambled day
and night, playing for enormous stakes, until Facundo
had won the hundred thousand dollars.

A year passed in preparations for the war, and at
the end of 1830 a new and formidable armv, composed
of divisions recruited in Rioja, San Juan, Alendoza, and
San Luis, marched against Cordova. General Paz,
desirousof avoiding bloodshed, tliough sure of winning
new laurels sJiould an engagement take place, sent
Major Pawnero, an officer of prudence, energj-, and
sagacity, to meet Quiroga with proposals of peace, and
even of alliance. It might be thought that Quiroga
would be disposed to accept any reationable opportu-
nity for adjustment ; but the intervenliou of the Boe-

178 LIFE IN THE ARGENTINE EEPUBLIC.

no9 Ayres commission, whicli had no other object than
to prevent any adjustment, and his own pride and pre-
sumption on finding Iiimself at the head of a more pow-
erful and better disciplined army than the first, made
him reject the peace proposals of the more modest
General Paz. Facundo had this time arranged some-
thing like a plan for the campaign. Communications
established in the Sierra de Cordova had excited the
pastoral population to rebellion ; Genera! Villaiaiie ap-
proached on the north with the division from Cata-
marca, while Facundo came up from the south. It was
not very difficult for General Paz to see through the
designs of Quiroga, and to disappoint them. One night
the army disappeared from the immediate neighborhood
of Cordova, no one knew where ; it had been seen by
many persons, but in different places at the same time,
If there has ever been in America anything like the
complicated strategy of Bonaparte's campaigns in Italy,
it was when Paz made forty companies cross tlie Sierra
de Cordova and tike a position where they would
inevitably intercept all fugitives from a regular battle.
The Montonera, paralyzed, surrounded on all sides, fell
into the net which had been spread for it. It is not
necessary to give the particulars of that memorable
battle. General Paz, in his despatch, gave the num-
ber of his loss as seventy, for appearance sake, but in
&ct, he had only lost twelve men in a contest with
eight thousand men, and twenty pieces of artillery. A
simple maneuvre had defeated the valiant Quiroga;
and the army which had cost so many tears and hor-
rors of ail kinds, only served to show Facundo's had
management, and to give to Paz several thousand use-
less prisoners.

CHAPTER 51.

SOCIAL WAE.

Facundo, the gaucho outlaw of the Llanos, did not
return to the country this time, but went directly to
Buenos Ayrea, and it was this unexpected step that
prevented him from falling into the hands of his pur-
suers. He saw that. 'ie could do nothing more in the
provinces, p^d for thi" once be could not eve" stop to
hprass the peasantry on nia wav *^r his connuemrs
p-ere reaav to com« *o their defense from all directions.

Important advantages were secureU by this battle of
Oncativo or Laguna Larga. Cordova, Mendoza, San
Juan, San Luis, La Rioja, Catamarca, Tucuman, Salta, .
and Jujui, were now free from the rule of the country
commandants. The unity of the Republic, which Riva-
davia had hoped to bring about through parliamentary
means, seemed now about to be effected by means of
^arms, at least in this portion of it ; and General Paz
called a congress of deputies from, these provinces to
consider what form of constitution would be desirable.
Lavalle had been less fortunate in Buenos Ayrcs, and
Rosas, who was destined to play such a terrible part
in Argentine history, had already begun to influence
public affairs, and to rule the city. The Republic was

ISO

LIFE IN THE ARGENTINE REPCBI.IC.

now, therefore, divi ded into two po rts : one in the in-
terior, which desired Buenos Ayres for the capital of

the union ; the other in Buenos Ayres, which made a
pretense of not wishing tliia city to be the capital, that
it might separate itself from European civilization and ^
civil order.

Another fact had been disclosed by this battle,
namely, that the Montonera had lost its primitive
strength, and that civilized armies could compete with
it successfully. It is a significant fiict in Argentine
history, that, as time passes, the pastoral bands lose
their early vigor, Facundo was already obliged to
spur tliem on with terror, and they were bnt a dull,
disorderly set, opposed to troops disciplined and guided
by rules of strategy and art. In Buenos Ayres, how-
ever, the result was different, Lavalle. notwithstand-
ing his bravery, which had been sufficiently proved at
Puente Marquez, and his large number of regular
troops, yielded at the end of the campaign, shut up as
he was in the city-by thousands of gauchos collected
by Rosas and Lopez. By a treaty which was to all
purpose a capitulation, be gave up his authority, and
Rosas entered Buenos Ayres. I believe that only
through an unfortunate mistake of his, Lavalle lost the
victory. He had been famous for tlie success of his
^valry charges ; at tlie defeat of Toreta or Moquegua,
( do not remember which, Lavalle made forty charges
luring the day to protect the retreating army, and I
loubt if the cavalry of Murat ever did as much. But
infortunately, Lavalle, remembering in 1839 that the
Montenera had conquered him in 18-10, abandoned his
aiVitary education and adopted the Montonera system.

BDENOS ATEES. 181

He equipped four thousand horse, and went into the
streets of Buenos Ayres at the same time that Rosas
who had conquered liim in 1830, gave up his cavalry,
in spite of native instincts, and finished the campaign
with infantry and artillery. They exchanged parts :
the gauclio assumed the military uniform, and the
soldier the poncho ; the former trium|thed, the latter
died pierced bv a ball from the Montonera. A hard
lesson ! If Lavalle had made the campaign of 1840
according to military rules, we should now, on the
banks of the Plata, be preparing for steam navigation
on the rivers, and distributing farms to European emi-
grants. Paz was the fii-st citizen general who triumphed
over the pastoral or provincial element ; because he
brought to bear against it all the resources of Eurojiean
military art, directed by a mathematical head.

The labors of Paz in Cordova had been to such pur-
pose that after two yeai-s Facundo found it impossible
to reestablish his influence in the provinces; it was
only the civilized, the refined city of Buenos Ayres
that offered an asylum for his barbarism.

The journals of Cordova at that time gave the Euro-
pean news, the sessions of the French assembly ; the
Ukenesses of Casimir Pericr, Lamaitine, Chateaubri-
and, served as models in the school of design. Such
was the interest of Cordova in European afTairs. And
at this very time the " Mercantile Gazette " was assum-
ing the semi-barbarous tone that henceforth character-
ized the Argentine press.

Facundo fled to Buenos Ayres, not without shooting
two of his own officers for trying to maintain order
among his foDowers. He never belied his theory of

182 LIFE IN THE ARGENTINE REPUBLIC.

terror, — it was his talisman, his palladium. He would
sacrifice everything rather than this weapon.

On arriving at the city, he presented himself at the
conrt of Rosas ; there he happened to meet General
Guido, the most courteous and ceremonious of the
generals who have made their way in the world by
compliments in the antechamber; he offered one of his
very best to Quiroga, w!io replied surlily, "Am la
dog, for you to laugh at ? You people here sent a nice
set of doctors (Cavia and Cernadas} to get me into
trouble with Gene.ral Paz. Paz beat me accocding to
rule." He often regretted not having listened to the
proposals of Major Pawnero.

Facundo soon merged in the crowd of the great city,
and was only occasionally heard of at the gaming-table.
General Mancilla once threatened to throw a candle-
stick at his head, saying, " Do you thiiik you are still
in the provinces ? " His gaticho dress at first attracted
much attention — the poncho, and the long beard which
he had sworn never to cut until he had wiped out the
disgi-ace of the defeat at Tablada ; but after a little
while he was scarcely noticed.

A great expedition against Cordova was then in prep-
aration, and six thonsand men from Buenos Ayres and
Santa F(S had enlisted for the enterprise. Lopez was
the commander-in-chief, with Balcarce, Enrique Mar-
tinez, and other officers under him. Facundo under-
took a desperate attack upon Rioja or Mendoza. He
received for the purpose two hundred criminals from
the prisons, collecting in addition sixty men in the
citv, and with this company began bis march.

At Pavon, Rosas was collecting his red cavalry ;

CAPTDEE OF RIO QDAHTO.

183

Lopez of Santa F^ was also there, and Facnndo stopped
to wait for the other leaders. Here, therefore, were
the three famous provincial leaders met together on the
pampas : Lopez, the pupil and successor of Artigas ;
Facundo, the barbarian of the interior ; and Rosas, the
bloodhound, who had been in training, but was now
about to bepin the hunt on his own account. The old
classics would have compared them to the triumvirate
Lepidus, Mark Anthony, and Octavius, who divided
the empire among themselves, a comparison quite per-
fect even in respect to the baseness and cruelty of the
Argentine Octavius. The three leaders were now in
their element, and refreshed themselves with a bit of
tme gaucho life ; scouring the pampas daily, and mak-
ing trials of skill in racing, lassoing horses, and fight-
ing ; in all of which Rosas was usually victorious. He
one day invited Lopez to have a bout, but Lopez said,
" No, comrade, you are too rough for me." And in
fact he had left them pretty well covered with cots and
bruises.

Quiroga crossed the pampas by the same road by
which, twenty years before, he had fled as an outlaw
from Buenos Ayres. At the city of Rio Quarto he
met with an obstinate resistance, was delayed three
days by the marshes which served as a defense to the
garrison, and was about to retreat when a traitor came
to him with the information that they had no more
cartridges. Thanks to this timely revelation, Facuodo
took the place without difficulty.

At Rio Quinto be had to contend with the brave
Pringles, the veteran of the war of independence, who
, when he was met by the Spaniards

184 LIFE IN THE ARGESTIKE REPCBLIC.

in a narrow pass, spurred his Iiorse into the sea, with
the cry, "Viva la Patria!" Tliis same Pringles, wliom
the viceroy Pezuela had loaded with presents, and for
whom San Martin had struck ofif the singular medal,
" Honor to the vanquished of Ckaticai," was now to die
by the hands of Quiro(;a's convicts.

Excited by this unhoped-for triumph, Facundo ad-
vanced upon San Luis, where little resistance was
offered. Beyond this the road branched off into three,
and Quiroga considered which to take. The one to
the right led to the Llanos, the theatre of his early
deeds, the cradle of his power ; in this direction there
were no forces superior to his own, but neither had he
any resources there to fall back upon. Tlie middle
road led to San Juan, where there were a thousand
men in arms, but unable to resist a charge of cavalry
with Quiroga's terrible lance at its head. Finally, the
road to the left led to Mendoza, where the real forces
were under command of General Videla Castillo.
There was a battalion of eight hundred trained men,
commanded by Colonel Barcala ; a squadron of cui-
rassiers, under command of Lieutenant-Colonel Che-
naut, and also some militia-men, and pickets of cui-
rassiers of the Guard. Facundo had with him only
three hundred undisci])Iined men, and was not in very
good health himself Which road should he take ? He
chose the road to Mendoza, — came, saw, and con-
quered. But how was this possible ; was there cow-
ardice or treacherj' ? Neitlier. An unwise imitation
of European sti-ategy ; an error in tactics in part,
and in part an Argentine prejudice, caused the shame-
ful loss of thia battle. Videla Castillo knew that

CASTILLO'S BLIjKDERS. 185

Quiroga was approaching, but did not believe, as no
otber guneral would have believed, that lie would attack
Mendoza ; he therefore sent to the Lakes his veteran
troops, who, with some other detachments from San
Juan under the command of Major Castro, formed a
force strong enough to resist an attack, and to force
Quiroga to take the road to the Llanos. So far it was
all riglit. But Quiroga did march upon Mendoza, and
the whole army went out to meet him. In the place
called Chacon there is an open fie'd in which the army
left its rear guard ; but soon after, hearing the firing
of a company in retreat. General Castillo ordered tlie
army to fall back hastily, in order to oecu]>y the level
field of Chacon. This was a double error ; in the first
place, because a retreat at the approach of a formidable
enemy paralyzes inexperienced soldiers, who do not
understand the cause of the movement ; and secondly,
because the rougher and more broken the ground, the
better it would have been for fighting Quiroga, who
only had with him a small body of infantry. What
could he have done in such a field against six hundred
infantry with a formidable batteiy of artillery in front?
Bat unfortunately the officers were all native Argen-
tines, who were devoted to horses ; for them there
would be no glory except in a victory won by the
sword, and therefore they thought an open field for
cavalry charges was absolutely necessary; this is the
mistake in Argentine strategj'.

The battle began, and a squadron of militia was
orderetl to charge, — another Argentine mistake is this
of beginning the fight with a charge of cavalry, a mis-
take which has lost to the Republic a hundred battles.

186

LIFE IN THE ARQENTIKE BEPDBLIC.

And in addition to tliis error there was a misapplica-
tion of the European art of warfare. In Europe,-
where the masses of the troops are in column, and
where the battle-field includes several towns or ham-
lets, the picked troops are kept in reserve until needed.
In South America, a pitched battle generally takes
place in an open field, the troops are not numerous,
and the heat of the contest lasts but a short time, so
that it is always desirable to rush in at once with the
best men. In the present case, a cavalry charge was
the worst possible beginning, but if it must needs be,
it should at least have been made by the best troops,
in order to rout at once the three hundred men who
made up both army and reserve of the enemy. In-
stead of this, the old routine was followed ; ordering to
the front a large number of awkward militia, each man
afraid of wounding himself with bis own lance, and
when the order to charge was given, they stood stock
still, then fell back, and being charged upon by the
enemy, gave wav and embarrassed the best troops be-
hind. In a moment all was confusion, and the battle
lost ; and Facundo passed on in triumph to Mendoza,
without caring for the generals, infantry, and guns,
which he left to his rear guard. This was the result
of the battle of Chacon, which left exposed the flank
of the army of Cordova at the moment it was about
to march upon Buenos Ayres. Quiroga's inconceiva-
ble audacity was crowned with the most complete suc-
cess. It was useless to try to drive him from Menduza ;
terror and the prestige of \'ictory gave him means of
resistance, while defeat had left his enemies discour-
aged. He would only have hastened to San Juan,

CASTILLO'S CIVILIZING WORK. 187

where arras and money were to be liad, and cora-
tnenced a usdess and intenninable war. The generals,
therefore, went to Cordova, and the infantry and ofB-
cera of Meniioza came to terms the next day. The
Unitarios of San Juan emigrated to Coquimbo, to the
number of two hundred, and Qniroga remained in
peaceful possession of Cuyo and Kioja. These two
cities had never suffered from all the eviis Quiroga had
hitherto brought upon them, as they did now from the
interruption of business caused by such a large emigra-
tion of the wealthiest inhabitants.

But I must especially remark upon the still ^eater
harm done to the spirit of civilization. Considering
the inland situation of Mendoza, it had been a highly
civihzed city, with a spirit of enterprise and progress
greater than any city of the Republic ; it was the Bar-
celona of the interior. The spirit of progress had
attained its height under the administration of Videla
Castillo. Two forts had been built towards the south
with the double advantage of extending the bounda-
ries of the province, and of securing it permanently
from the savages. The swamps had been drained, the
city ornamented, societies of agriculture, industry,
mines, and of public education had been formed, and
directed by intelligent, entbusiasiic, and enterprising
men ; a manufactory of woollen and flax had been
established which furnished clothing for the troops,
and an armory for the making of swords, cuirasses,
lances, and bayonets, with none of the work imported
except some parts of the cannon. A French chemist,
by the name of Charron, had put up a machine for
moulding bullets, and types for the printing-press, and

188

LIFE WTHE ARGESTISE REPtTBLIC.

investigated the metals of the province. It is impos-
sible to conceive of a more rapid development. These
things woidd not have attracted so much attention in
'Chili or Buenos Ayres, but in an inland province with
only the aid of native workmen, the progress was pro-
digious, and in ten years it might have been one of the
most remarkable places in the countrj- ; but Facundo's
army crushed tliis promising civilization, and tlie monk
Aldao passed his plough over it and watered the earth
with blood for ten years. What could remain ?

But the progress of ideas was not entirely stopped
with the occupation ofQuirogn; the members of the
mining society, who emigrated to Chili, tliere gave
themselves np to the study of chemistry, mineralogy-,
and metallurgj-. Godoi Cruz, Correa, ViJlanneva,
Doncel, and many others, looked up all books treating
of the subject, and made a large collection of different
metals from all parts of South America ; they also ex-
amined the Chilian archives for information about the
mines of Uspallata, and with much labor succeeded in
establishing modes of operation by which these mines
have' become profitable, notwithstanding the scarcity
of metal. From that time dates the new and profitable
working of the mines of Mendoza. The Argentine
miners, not satisfied with these results, scattered them-
selves throughout Chili, which afforded a rich field for
the experiments of their science, and they have accom-
plished much at Copiapo and other places by the intro-
duction of new machinery and tools.

Godoi Cruz had another object in his researches :
he endeavored, by introducing the cultivation of the
white mulberry, to solve the problem of the possible

ISTRODDCTION OF THE SILKWOBM.

189

future of San Juan and Mendoz^, which depends upon
liie discovery of some production of great value, yet of
small compass. Silk answers this condition, imposed
upon these inland cities by their great distance from ■
the seaports, and the high price of transportation.
Godoi, not satisfied with publisiiing at Santiago a long
and complete treatise on the cultivation of the mul-
berry, and the care of the silkworm and cochineal, had
it distributed through the provinces free of cost, kept
the question of the mulberry constantly before the pub-
lic for ten years, urging its cultivation, and setting forth
its advantages, while he carried on a correspondence
with Europe, learning the current prices, and sending
over specimens of the silk he had himself obtained, thus
discovering the failings or excellences in quality, and
also the best methods of spinning. The results of
this great, patriotic labor, were all that he could hope
for ; now there are already some thousands of mul-
berry-lrees, and the silk gathered by the quintal was
spun, twisted, dyed, and sold in Buenos Ayres and
Santiago, for the European market, at the rate of six
or seven dollars a pound ; for the silk of Mendoza
was as glossy as that of tiie best quality in Spain or
Italy. '^

The old man finally returned to his native place to
rejoice in the sight of a whole city succeeding in a
profitable change of employment, hoping that he might
live to sec a caravan depart for Buenos Ayres, bearing
the valuable production which made the wealth of
China for so many years, and for precedence in which
the manufactories of Lvons, Barcelona, Paris, and all

190

LIFE Dt THE ARGEKTIKE REPCBLtC.

Italy still dispute.' Mendoza preceded all Spanish
America in developing this useful branch of industrj-.

Have Facundo or Hosas ever done the least thing for
the public good, or been interested in any useful object ?
No, From them come nothing but blood and crimes.
I have given these details at length, because in the
midst of horrors such as I am obliged to describe, it is
comforting to pause on the few progressive impulses
which revive again and again after being apparently
crushed by savage barbarians. Civilization ivill, how-
ever feeble its present resistance, one day resume its
place. There is a new world about to unfold itself,
and it only awaits some fortunate general to put aside
the iron heel which has so long crushed it. Besides,
history should not be considered merely a tissue of
crimes, and for this reason it is desirable' to bring be-
fore the mind of a subjugated people a remembrance of
past epochs. If they desire for their posterity a better
record than they themselves have, let them not hope
for it because the cannibal of Buenos Ayres is just now
tired of shedding blood, and permits exiles to return
to their homes. This fact is of no import in the prog-
ress of a people. The gi-eat evil to be dreaded is a
government which fears the influence of tlioughtful
and enlightened men, and must either exile or kill
them. Tiiis evil results from a system which gives
one man such absolute power that there can be no hb-
erty of thought or action, no public spirit — the desire
of self-preservation outweighing all interest for others.

FACTOTDO AT HIS OLD WATS. 191

Every one for himself, and the executioner for all
witliout discrimination, this is the rSaumS of the Ufe
and government of an cnsla^'cd people.

Facundo, once more master of Mendoza, adopted his
old methods of raising money and soldiers. One even-
ing hia agents were all over the city arresting the
officers who had capitulated at Chacon ; for what pur-
pose it was not known, hut the officers felt no great
fear, confiding as they did in the good faith of the
treaty. Nevertheless, a number of priests were also
brought in and ordered to hear tlie confessions of the
officers, who were then placed in a line and shot, one
after an()ther, under the direction of Facundo ; the ex-
ecntioii lasting about an hour. He afterwards gave as
an excuse for this horrible violation of kith, tliat the
Unitarios had killed General Villafafle, There was
some foundation for the charge, but the revenge was
monstrous. At another time he said, " Paz shot nine
of my officers, but I have shot ninety-six of his." Paz,
however, was not responsible for that deed, which he
deeply lamented, and which was also an act of retalia-
tion.

But the aptem of giving no quarter, so tenaciously
followed by Rosa^, and the constant violation of all
customary forms, treaties, capitulations, etc., are the
result of causes not depending ou the personal charac-
ter of the provincial leaders. Acknowledgment of
individual rights which lessons the horrors of war, is
the result of centuries of civilization, and was not to be
expected among the semi- barbarians of the pampas.
The savage kills his prisoner, and respects no compact
when he has occasion to violate iL

192 LIFE IN THE AEGENTINE REPCBLIC.

The death of Villafafie had happened in Chili, and
had already been avenged " eye for eye, tooth for
tooth," in accordance with the lex talionis. The per-
petrator of this deed was a remarkable specimen of the
class of nien I have been endeavoring to describe, and
is therefore worthy of mention. Among the San Jiian
emigrants who went to Coquimbo. there was a Major
Navarro, from the army of General Paz. This man,
who came of a distinguished family of San Juan, was
small in size, with a thin, flexible body, and celebrated
in the army for a rash courage. At the age of eighteen
he mounted guard as lieutenant of militia on the night
when (in 1820) the battalions of the first division of
the army of the Andes revolted, and, forming in fonr
companies before the puard-liouse, ordered the city
militia to surrender. Navarro alone remained in the
guard-house, and defended tlie entrance ; and then,
holding one hand over three wounds in his thigh, cov-
ering with the other ann five wounds in his breast,
and blinded by the blood streaming from his head,
made his way home, where he was six months recov-
ering his strength; a cure altogether unhoped for and
well-nigh miraculous. Thrown out of his place by the
disbanding of the militia, he devoted himself to trade,
but a trade accompanied with dangers and adventures.
At first he was engaged in introducing contraband
goods into Cordova ; afterwards he carried on a trade
with the Indians, and Anally married the daughter of
a cacique, lived with her faithfully, took part in the
wars of tlie savages, and accustomed himself to eat raw
meat, until, in the course of three years, he became a
thorough savage. While there he heard that the war

NAVAHEO. 193

Trith Brazil was aboat to commence, and leaving his
beloved savages, entered the array with his old rank of
lieutenant, where his bravery was so conspicuous that
he soon became a captain and brevet major, and one of
Lavalle's chosen men. At Marquez the whole army
was astonished at liis daring. After these e}:peditions
be remained at Buenos Ayres with Lavalle's other
officers, Arbolito, Fancho el fiate, and otiier chie&,
who displayed their bravery in coffee-houses and hotels.
The animosity against the officers of the array became
greater every day, and on one occasion they were
drinking to the death of Lavalle, when Navarro heard
thera, and stepping up, poured out a glass and drank,
saying in a loud voice, " To the health of Lavalle." A
duel followed on the spot, and Navarro, who killed his
man, fled from the city, and overtook the army before
it reached Cordova, Before reentering the service, he
went in the interior to see his family, and leamed with
regret the death of hia wife. Taking leave of his
friends, he went back to the army accompanied by two
young raen — his cousin and nephew.

In the battle of Chacon he got a shot in his breast
which burned off his beard, and blackened his face with
powder ; and in this condition he emigrated to Co-
q limbo, still accompanied by his young relatives ; but
every day he felt a strong desire to go back, and could
hardly be prevented from doing so. " I am a true
son of the army," he would say, " and war is my ele-
ment ; the first drop of blood shed in the civil war was
from ray veins ; and from them should come the last"
At other times he said, "I cannot go a step fartherj I
am getting &rtlier and farther from the epaulets of a

194 LIFE IN THE ARGENTINE REPDBLIC.

general. What would my friends say if they knew that
Major Navarro was treading a foreign soil without a
squad behind him ? "

The day they crossed the boundary ridge, there was
quite a pathetic scene. They were obliged to give op
their arms, and the Indians could not conceive of a
country where one was not permitted to go about lance
in hand. Navarro explained in their own language,
while two great tears rolled down his cheeks ; they
then laid their arms upon the ground, with much emo-
tion, and even afler starting on, went back and rode
slowly around them as if bidding them farewell.

It was in this state of mind that Major Navarro
passed into Chih, and took up his lodging at Guanda,
a place situated at the beginning of the road which
leads to the cordiliera. There he learned that General
Villafafie was going back to join Facundo, and openly
announced his intention of killing him. The emigrants,
who knew what these words meant coming from Na-
varro, left the neighborhood, after trying in vain to
dissuade him from his purpose. Villafafie was warned
beforehand, and asked protection from the public au-
thorities, who gave him some militia, by whom he was
abandoned as soon as they learned what was the trou-
ble. But VillafaSe was well armed, and accompanied
by six natives of Rioja. Just as he was passing through
Guanda, Navarro appeared before him, with only a
brook between them, gravely declared his intention,
and then returned quietly into the house where he was
breakfasting. That night VillafaSe was so imprudent
as to lodge at Tilo, a place only about four leagues off.
In the night Navarro armed himself and took with him

VILLAFAffE. 195

a company of nine men, whom he left at a convenient
place near Tilo. He then approached by moonlight,
entered the court-yard, and called out to Villafiifle, who
was sleeping with his men in the corridor, " VillafaBe,
arise ! those who have enemies should not sleep." Vil-
lafaBe seized his lance, but Navarro attacking him with
his sword, ran him through the body. He then fired
off a pistol, the signal agreed upon with his companions,
who came up and falling upon Villafaile's men, killed
or dispersed them. They then took horses and equip-
ments and set out for the Argentine Republic to join
the army. Mistaking the road, they found themselves
after a while at Rio Quarto, where they encountered
Colonel Echevarria, who was pursued by enemies. Na-
varro hastened to his aid, and the horse of his friend
falling at that moment, begged him to get up behind
himself; but Echevarria would not consent, and Na-
varro, determined not to By without him, dismounted,
shot his own horse, and both men soon shared the same
fate. It was three- years before his family knew what
had become of him, the story being told by the men
who had killed him, and who, by way of proof, dug up
the skeletons of the two friends.

During Major Navarro's short absence, events had
taken place which entirely changed the condition of
public affairs. The famous capture of General Paz,
who was caught at the head of his army by a lasso,
decided the fate of the Republic. It may be said that
the constitution failed to be established at that time
through a singular accident ; for Paz with an army of
four thousand trained men, and a wisely arranged plan
of operations, was sure of conquering the array of Bae-

196 LIFE IN THE ARGENTINE EEPUBLIC.

DOS Ayres. Those who have since seeo him triumph-
ing in every direction, can judge if he was very pre-
suming to take" this conquest for granted. We might
chime in with the moralists who so often attribute the
fall of empires to the merest accidents ; but if it was
an accident to catch a great general with a lasso, it
was not accidental that the men who did it should have
used such means, being as they were of true gaucho
nature, though converted into a political element.

Facundo, having so cruelly revenged the death of
General Villafafie, marched upon San Juan to prepare
an expedition against Tucuman, where the army had
retired after the loss of its general had destroyed all
hope of accomplishing anything. On his arrival, all
the Federal citizens went out to receive him as they
had done in 1827 ; but Facundo was not fond of repe-
titions. He therefore sent one company in advance of
the assembled citizens, and another behind them; then
entered the city himself by a different route, leaving
his officious hosts prisoners in the street, where they
passed the whole day and night, lying down among
the horses' feet if overpowered with sleep.

When he reached the public square, he stopped his
carriage, put an end to the noise of the bells, and or-
dered all the furniture of the house provided for him
by the city, to be thrown into the street, carpets, cur-
tains, chairs, tables, mirrors, — all heaped in confusion
in the middle of the square ; nor would he go in until
sure that nothing remained but the bare walls, a little
table, a single chair, and a bed. While this was going
on, he called a child who was passing by his carriage,
and asked him what his name was, and when he an-

FACmroO'S DISCIPLINE. 197

swered "Roza," said, "Yonr father, Don Ignacio
Roza, was a great man ; give my compliments to your
mother."

The next day a hench was prepared for the shooting
of his usual victims. Who were they to be this time ?
The Unitarios ha"^ fled in great numbers, and many
timid people not Unitarios. But Facundo began to
impose contributions upon the women whose husbands,
fathers, or brothers were absent, and the results were
quite satisfactory, and accompanied by the usual cir-
cumstances, — sobs and cries of women threatened
with the lash, some actually whipped, two or three
men shot, one lady compelled to cook for the soldiers,
and other nameless outrages. There was one especial
day of horror to be remembered ; it was when Facundo
was about to depart for Tucuman ; the divisions were
filing off one after another, and the muleteers were
taking care of the baggage, when a mule broke loose,
and in trying to get away ran into the church of Santa
Anna. Facundo ordered them to catch it ; the mule-
teer went in for this purpose, and at the same moment
an officer, by command of Quiroga, entered on horse-
back, tied both man and mule, and brought them boaod
together, the unfortunate muleteer suffering from the
kicks of the animal. Just then it appeared that some-
thing was not quite ready for the departure, and Fa-
cundo ordered the negligent authorities before him.
His Excellency the Governor and Captain General of
the Province received a buffet, the chief of police nar-
rowly escaped a bullet as he ran, and all reached their
offices as quickly as possible to give the neglected
orders.

198

LIFE IN THE ARGENTINE REPUBLIC.

A little later, Facuiido, seeing an ofBcer strike two
soldiers who were fighting, with the flat of his aword,
called him up and attacked him with his lance ; the
officer used his own for the defense of his life, and
presently disarmed Qulroga, whose lance he then
picked up and returned respectfully, Quiroga again
attacked him ; there was another encounter, and he
was again disarmed. He then called six men, had the
officer seized, and stretched across the window-frame
with his hands and feet tied fast, and ran him through
with a lance again and again, until life was entirely
extinct. His rage was without bounds ; General Hu-
idobro, his second, was also threatened with his lance,
and prepared to defend his life.

And yet Facundo was not cmel or blood-thirsty in
comparison with other barbarians ; he was only a bar-
barian, who did not know how to restrain his passions,
and these once aroused were without limit, without
restraint ; he was a terrorist who, on entering a city,
- shoots one, and perhaps lashes another, but for a
reason. The person shot is blind, or paralyzed ; the
unhappy victim of the lash is a respectable citizen, a
young man of one of the first families. His brutalities
to women come from a want of delicacy ; the humilia-
tions imposed upon the citizens from the coarse desire
to ill-treat and to mortify the self-respect of those by
whom he feels himself to be despised. It is the same
motive which makes terror a means of government.
What would Rosas have done without it in a society
like that of Buenos Ayrcs ? How else could he have
commanded from an intelligent people that respect
which they never willingly show for persons who are

TEBBOB A POWEK. 199

in themselves low and contemptible ? It is incredible
what an accumulation of atrocities is necessary to per-
vert a people, and nobody knows the amount of close
observation and sagacity employed by Don Manuel
Rosas in order to subject the city to that magical influ-
ence which destroyed in six years all knowledge of the
just and the good ; which broke the bravest spirits and
put them under the yoke.

Terror in France in 1793 was an eflect and not a
means. Robespierre did not guillotine nobles and
priests to create a reputation, nor to elevate himself
upon the heaps of the slain. He was a stem man, who
believed that he must remove from France all her
aristocratic members to insure the object of the rebel-
lion. " Our names," said Danton, " will be execrated
by posterity, but we shall have saved the Republic."
With us, terror is a method of government invented to
crush out knowledge, and force men to recognize as a
thinking head, the feet which are upon their necks ; it
is the compensation an ignorant man in power takes
for the contempt which he knows his insignificance
inspires in a people infinitely superior to him. This is
why we have in our times a repetition of the extrava-
gances of CaUgula, who caused himself to be wor-
shipped as a god, and associated his horse with him in
the government. Caligula knew that he was the very
lowest of those Romans whom lie nevertheless held
under his foot. Rosas caused his sacred likeness to be
placed in the churches, and borne through the streets
on a car, to which were harnessed officers and even
ladies, for the purpose of giving celebrity to his name.
But Facundo was only cruel when in a passion. His

200

UFB IN THE ABGERTIKB REPUBLIC.

deliberate acts were limited to shooting or lashing a
man. Rosas, on the contrary, was never in a passion.
He made his plans in his closet, and gave his orders to
his emissaries.

CHAPTER Xn.

BOCIAL WAR.

cl Vll{U> DDl •BbflUa. Toul,jiui|ii'
i« I'lB^qiH Arodia."— MuIM-SrlM.

CIUDADELA.

The expedition departed, and the people of San Jaan
breathed once more as if awakening from a liorrible
nightmare, Facundo displayed in this campaign a
spirit of order and a rapidity of march which showed
how much he had learned from past disasters. In
twenty-four days he passed over with his army about
three hundred leagues ; so that he came near surprising
some squadrons of the enemy which only became aware
of his approach when he took up his quarters at Ciuda-
dela, an old encampment of the patriot armies under
Belgrano. It would be inconceivable how such an
army as that commanded by Madrid, at Tucuman,
with brave officers and experienced soldiers, could be
conquered, if moral causes and prejudices against strat-
egy did not solve the enigma.

General Madrid, commander-in-chief, had under him
Colonel Lopez, a provincial leader from Tucuman, who
was personally opposed to him ; and, besides that, a
retreat demoralizes troops. General Madrid was not the
man to govern inferior officers. The army went into

202 UPE IN THE ARGENTINE EEPDBLia

battle half-federal and lialf-montonero in Bpirit, while
that of Facundo had the unity produced by terror and
obedience to a leader who is not a cause but a person,
and who on this account overcomes free-wiII and de-
stroys individuality. Rosas triumphed over liis enemies
by that power, which made all lits satellites passive in-
struments and hhnd executors of his supreme will.

The evening before the battle, Colonel Balmaceda
asked of the general-in-chief permission to make the
first charge. If it had been allowable for a battle to
begin with a cavalry charge, or for an inferior officer
to take the liberty of suggesting it, the battle would
have been gained ; for nothing in Brazil or the Argen-
tine Republic had ever been able to withstand the
charges of the second regiment of cuirassiers. The
General acceded to tlie demand of the commander of
the second; but Colonel Lopez declared that this would
take away some of his best men ; for to him the select
troops had been given in charge, which, according to
rule, form tlie reserve ; therefore the gen eral-iu -chief,
not having sufficient authority to stop these disputes,
sent back to the reserve the invincible battalion, and
the brave officer commanding it.

Facundo deployed his men at such a distance as to
shelter them from the infantry commanded by Barcala,
and to weaken the effect of eight pieces of artillery
directed by the intelligent Arengreen. Could Quiroga
have foreseen what bis enemies were first doing ? In a
previous battle he bad shot bis own victorious officer
for not pursuing with an inferior force the defeated
enemy.

From one end to the other of Quiroga's hne the

soldiers trembled with terror, not of the enemy, but
of their chief, who walked up and down behind the
line, brandishing his lance. They could only hopa to
escape from this oppressive terror by throwing them-
selves upon the enemy. They rushed forward, broke
the line of bayonets merely to put something between
them and the image of Facundo, which pursued them
like a phantom. Thus on one aide reigned terror, and
on the other anarchy. At the first attempt to charge,
the cavalry of Madrid gave way, the reserve followed,
and there only remained five officers, with the artillery,
whose discharges became fainter and fainter, and the
infantry, which rushed to a hand-in-hand fight with
the enemy. But why say more ? The victor should
give the details of a battle.

Consternation reigned in Tucuman ; immense num-
bers emigrated, for this was Facundo's third visit. The
following day a contribution was levied. Quiroga,
knowing that there were valuables hidden in a church,
questioned the sacristan, who, being a silly fellow, an-
swered with a laugh, for which he was shot on the
spot. The chests of the general were soon filled with
gold ; therefore it is not strange that the guardian of
San Francisco and the priest Colombres, were the next
victims of the lash. Facundo then visited the prison-
ers, counted out the officers, and retired to rest after
his fetigue, leaving orders for them to be shot.

Tucuman is a tropical country, where Nature has
displayed its greatest pomp ; it is the Eden of Amer-
ica, and without a rival on the surface of the earth.
Imagine the Andes covered vrith a most luxuriant
vegetation, from which escape twelve rivers at equal

204 LIFE m THE ARGEirnVB REPOBLrc.

distances, flowing parallel to each other, until they
converge and form a navigable stream, which reaches
to the heart of South America. The country watered
by these branches comprises more than fifty leagues.
Primeval forests cover the surface, and unite the gor-
geousness of India with the beauties of Greece.

The walnut interlaces its long branches with the
mahogany and ebony ; the cedar and the classic laurel
grow side by side, and beneath these the mvrtle con-
secrated to Venus : still leaving space for the fragrant
spikenard and tite white lily.

A belt of odoriferous cedar allows a passage through
the forest, which is everywhere else impassable because
of the thick and thorny rose-bushes. The old trunks
are covered with various species of flowering mosses,
and the bindweed and other vines festoon and entwine
all these different trees.

Over all this vegetation, which defies the brush of
fancy in combination and richness of coloring, fly myri-
ads of golden butterflies, brilliant humming-birds, green
parrots, blue magpies, and orange-colored toucans. The
sound of these noisy birds greets one all day long like
the roar of a cataract.

Major Andrews, an English traveller, who has de-
voted many pages to the description of these beauties,
relates that he used to go out every morning to enjoy
the sight of this magnificent vegetation, and that he
often penetrated far into the thick, aromatic forests, so
enraptured that only after his return home did he know
that his clothes were torn, and his face scratched and
bleeding. The city is surrounded for many leagues
by a forest of orange-trees, rounded to about the same

TUCUMAN.

205

height, so as to form a vast canopy supported by millions
of smooth columns. The rays of the torrid sun have
never shone upon the scenes which are enacted ander
this immense roof. The young girls of Tucuman pass
the Sundays there, each group choosing a convenient
place. According to the season, they gather fruit or
scatter blossoms under the feet of the dancers, who are
intoxicated with the rich perfume and the melodious
sounds of the guitar. Perhaps one might believe tliis
description to be taken from the " Tliousand and One
Nights," or other Eastern fairytale; but I cannot half
describe the voluptuous beauty of these damsels, daugh-
ters of the tropics, as they rechne for their siesta beneath
the shade of the myrtles and laurels, enjoying such
odors as would bring asphyxia upon one unaccustomed
to the atmosphere.

Facundo went into one of these recesses formed by
shady branches, perhaps to consider what he should do
to the poor city fallen into his hands, like a squirrel
into the paw of a lion. Presently a deputation of
young girls, radiant with youth and beauty, approached
the place where Facundo was lying upon his poncho.
The bravest and moat eager led the way, hesitating
from time to time. Those who followed urged her
forward ; then all paused, seized with fear. They
glanced at one another for encouragement ; then, ad-
vancing timidly, stood before him. Facundo received
them kindly, made them sit down around him, and
asked the object of their visit They came to beg for
the lives of the officers who were to be shot. Sobs,
smiles, all the little fascinations of women were put
in requisition to obtaiu their charitable eud. Facundo

206 LIFE IN THE ARGENTINE REPUBLIC.

seemed deeply interested, and smiled benignantly ; he
wished to hear from each one, of their families, their
homes, a thousand details which seemed to please him ;
and thus passed an hour of expectation and hope. At
last he said to them, with the greatest complacency,
" Do yon hear those guns ? It is too late : they are
shot." A cry of horror arose, like that which escapes
from a flock of doves pursued by a felcon. They had
indeed been shot — and how ? Thirty-three officers,
from the rank of colonel upwards, received the fatal
balls entirely naked. Two brothers, sons of one of the
first iamilies of Buenos Ayers, embraced each other at
the last moment, so that the body of one prevented the
ball from reaching the other. The latter cried, " I am
saved." A mistake, unfortunate one ! How much he
would have given to live. While confessing, he had
tEiken a ring from his mouth, where it was concealed,
and had charged the priest to give it to his betrothed ;
who, on receiving it, lost her reason, and never again
recovered it.

The cavalry took charge of the corpses, and dragged
them to the cemetery ; so that bits of brain, arms, and
legs remained on the square of Tucuman, and served
as food for the dogs. How many victories are thus
tarnished !

Don Juan Manuel Rosas had killed in the same
manner and almost at the same time, at St. Nicholas
de los Arroyos, twenty-eight ofBcers, not to speak of
more than a hundred assassinations. If anything can
add to these horrors, it is the fate of Colonel Arraya,
the &ther of eight children, and a prisoner, with three
lance wounds in his shoulder. He was forced to enter

TDCDUAN. 207

Tncuman on foot, naked, bleeding, and loaded with
eight guns. Exhansted with fatigue, a bed was allowed
him in a private house. At the hour appointed for
his execution, which was to take place on the public
square, some musketeers forced their way into the
house and pierced him with balls in his bed ; leaving
him to die in the flames of the burning sheets.

Colonel Barcala, the celebrated negro, was the only
chief saved from this butchery. He was the ruling
spirit of Cordova and Mendoza, and the civic guard
idolized him. He was an instrument that they might
preserve for the future.

On the following day a process was commenced
throughout the city, called sequestration. It consisted
in placing sentinels at the doors of all the shops, ware-
houses, leather and tobacco stores, tanneries, indeed
everywhere, for there were no Federals. Federalism
'S a plant which grew there only after the soil was
three times watered with blood by Quiroga, and once
more by Oribe. Now it is said there are some Federals,
as is proved by their ribbon, upon which is written,
"Death to the savage Unitarios,"

All movable property, and the flocks and herds, were
claimed by Facundo. Two hundred and fif^y carts,
each loaded with sixteen beeves, were sent to Buenos
Ayres. The European goods were gathered to be
sold at auction by the commanders. Everything was
oflered for a low price. Facundo himself sold shirts,
women's skirts, and children's clothes, unfolding and
ehowing them to the crowd ; any bid was received ;
the sale was soon finished ; the affair was a success, —
the crowd was dense.

208 LIFE IN THE AKGENTINE EEPDBLIC.

After a few days, however, purchasers were scarce,
and embroidered handkerchiefs were offered in vain
for four rcales — there was nobody to buy. What had
happened ? Did the people repent ? Not at all ; but
there was no longer any money in circulation. The
contributions on one hand, sequestration on the other,
the auction finally, hud taken the last medio in the
province. If indeed a few still remained in the hands
of the officials, the gaming-table emptied their purses.
Leather bags filled with money were piled in front of
the general's house, and remained there all night an-
guarded ; (or the passers-by did not even dare to look
at them.

And yet the city had not been abandoned to pillage,
nor had the soldiers had that immense booty. Quiro-
ga used to say to his friends in Buenos Ayres that he
never permitted his men to pillage, because of the im-
morality of the thing, A farmer once complained to
him that some soldiers had stolen his fruit, and order-
ing the regiment before him, he discovered the guilty
ones, who each received six hundred lashes; the terri-
fied old man begged that the victims might be spared,
and was threatened with a share of the punishment.
This is the gaucho nature : he kills because his leader
commands bim to kill, and does not steal because he is
not commanded to steal. It might seem strange that
these men should not rebel and throw off the dominion
of one who gave them nothing in exchange for their
Talor or their hves, did we not know from Don Juan
Manuel Rosas how much terror can do, not only with
the poor gaucho, but with the illustrious general and
the proud, wealthy citizen. As I have already said,
terror produces greater results than patriotism.

FACCNDO'S CRCELTT. 209

A colonel of the army of Chili, Don Manuel Grego-
rio Quiroga, Federal ex-governor of San Juan, and, at
that time, a major-general in Qairoga'a army, perceived
that this booty of half a million was destined for the
general alone, who would not hesitate to box the ears
of an officer for keeping a few reales from the sale of a
handkerchief. He therefore conceived the idea of ob-
taining his pay by abstracting several valuable rings
from the general stock. But Facundo found out the
theft, and had him tied to a post to be publicly humili-
ated ; and when the army returned to San Juan, the
major-genera! went on foot over almost impassable
ground yoked with a bull. The companion of the bull
expired at Catamarca without attracting any notice,
At another time Facundo, having found out that a
young man by the name of Rodriguez, of high standing
in Tucuman, had received letters from the exiles, had
him arrested, conducted him to the square himself,
tied him up, and ordered him to receive six hundred
lashes. But the soldiers did not administer the pun-
ishment skillfully enough, and Quiroga took the leather
straps used for the purpose, and swinging them through
the air with his mighty arm, gave fifty lashes by way
of example. At the end of the i)erformance he him-
self poured salt water over the back, and picked off the
bits of skin from the wounds. This done, he went
home and read the intercepted letters, in which were
messages from husbands to wives, charges not to be
uneasy about them, together with receipted bills for
merchants, etc., but not a word of pohtics. Quiroga
then asked for Rodriguez, but hearing that he was
dying, sat down to cards, and won immense sums. Don

210 LIFE IN THE AB6EKTINE REPUBLIC.

Francisco Reto, and Don N. Lngones, were heard

raurnmring at the horrors thev witnessed, and each
received throe hundred lashef, with an order to walk
home through the streets naked, tireir hands over their
heads, and their backs dripping blood ; armed soldiers
foHowing_ at a little distance to see the sentence duly
esecnted. To what a degree of indifference men may
be brought by an infamous tyrant against whom there
is no appeal, was shown bj- Don Lusones, who, turning
to his companion ^in ])unishment, said, "Hand over a
cigar, and let's liave a smoke."

Dysentery prevailed at that time in Tucuraan, and
the physicians said there was no remedy for it, that it
came from mental causes, from terror, a disease for
which no remedy has yet been found in Buenos Ayres.
One day Facundo presented himself before the house
of a youjig *idow who had taken his fancy, and asked
sopitt .children who were playing at the door, where
the lady was ; one of tJie boys answered that she was
not in. "Go tell her I am here," said Quiroga.
" What is your name ? " asked tlie boy, who, when the
other replied, " I am Facundo Quiroga," fell down
senseless, and has only recently recovered his reason.

A young girl having excited his admiration, he pro-
posed to take her to San Juan. It can be imagined
how the poor girl received this proposition from a ti-
ger. Stammeringly she said that she could not ; that

her father . Facundo went to the father, and the

miserable man, trying to conceal his hori'or, took cour-
age to say that perhaps he would abandon his daughter,
and she would be unprotected. Facundo declared that
he should have no cause for that objection ; and the

TTRANNT. 211

unhappy father, still hoping to put him off or to gain
time, proposed that a paper should be drawn up and
signed; but Facundo immediately wrote and sijined
the required document, and passed it to the otlie^ for
his signature. At the last moment the father asserted
himself in the man, and he cried, "Kill me! but I will
not sign." " Ah, old rascal I " cried Facundo, leaving
the house in a rage.

Quiroga, the champion of the provinces, as he called
himself, was barbarous, avaricious, lustful, and gave
himself up to his passions without restraint ; his suc-
cessor did not rob cities, nor outrage women ; lie had
only one passion, — the thirst for human bhwd and des-
potism. Instead, he knew how to use words and forms
which satisfy the indifferent, such as: the savages, the
bloodihirity creatures ; perfidious, wretched Vnitarioi ;
the perfidious minister of Brazil ; the dirty money of
France; the iniquitous claims of England; — words
thus sufficing to cover the longest and most frightful
series of crimes that the nineteenth century has wit-
nessed, Rosas ! Rosas I I bow before thy mighty wis-
dom. Tiiou art as great as the Plata, as the Andes !
Thou alone hast discovered how contemptible are the
liberties, the knowledge, and the pride of mankind.
Trample upon them all ; lei all the governments of the
civilized worid honor thee, tiie more insolent tliou ait.
Abuse them 1 thou wilt always find dogs to snatch up
the spoils thrown to them !

In Tucuman, Salta, and Jujui, a great, progressive,
industrial movement was interrupted by the invasion
of Quiroga. Dr. Colombres, whom Facundo loaded
'with manacles, had introduced and encouraged the

212 LIFE ra THE ARGENTINE KEPDBLIC.

cultivation of sut^r-cane, for which the climate is so
well adapted. He had bought plants from Havana,
sent aj^nts to the mills of Brazil to study the processes
and apparatus; succeeded in distilling the molasses;
and did not rest nntil ten mills were estahlished and in
successful operation. But this was scarcely accom-
plished when Facundo turned his horses into tlie fields
of cane, and destroyed the mills.

An agricultural society was already publishing its
proceedings, and preparing to attempt the cultivation
of indigo and cochineal. At Salta, looms and workmen
had been brought from Europe for weaving woolen
goods, cloth, carpets, etc., all of which had turned out
profitably. But what particularly occupied the atten-
tion of those cities was the navigation of the Bermejo,
the great sti'CHm which flows between the two prov-
inces, unites with the Parana, and thus provides an
outlet for the valuable productions of that tropical
country. The future pro'^pcritj of those beautiful
provinces (depended upon turning their streams to the
uses of commerce ; from poor inland cities, with small
populations, their capitals might in ten years be con-
verted into great centres of civilization and wealth, if,
under the protection of an ablu government, their in-
habitants could devote themselves to removing the
slight obstacles in the way of their progress.' Nor are
these chimerical dreams of a possible but disthnt future.
In North America, not only hundreds of large, pop-
ulous cities, but even whole States have sprung up
throughout the region watered by the Mississippi and
its branches, in less than ten years. And the Missis-

sippi

i not moi-e available for commerce, than the

EIVEE-NAVIGATION. 213

Parana ; nor do the Oliio, Illinois, or Arkansas water a
larger or richer territorj- than the Pilcomayo, Bermejo,
Paraguay, and so many other great rivers whJcli desig-
nate the patli to be taken by the people who shall here-
after inhabit the Argentine Repubhc. Rivadavia con-
sidered the navigation of the inland rivers of the great-
est importance ; an association was formed at Salta and
Buenos Ayres with a capital of half a million dollars
for this purpose, and Sala had made his voyage and
published a map of the river. How much time has
since been lost from 1826 to 1845 ! And how long will
it still be before God shall destroy the monster of the
pampas ?

For Rosas, in so obstinately opposing the free naviga-
tion of rivers, in pretending to fear European intrusion,
in keeping up the Iiostility of the inland cities and leav-
ing them to tlieir own resources, does not simply obey
the instinctive prejudice against foreigners, nor even
the impulse of the ignorant native of the port who,
possessing the seaport and the general custom-house
of the Rcpubiic. does not care for the development of
civilization and wealth of the whole nation, or see that
this would fill the harbor with ships bearing the prod-
nets of the interior, and the cnstom-house with mer-
chandise. He follows, rather, the natural instinct of
the gauch ■ of the pampas, who has a horror of water,
a contempt for ships, and knows no greater delight
than riding a good horse. What does he care for
mulberry -trees, sugar, indigo, the navigation of rivers,
European immigration, or anything beyond the narrow
circle of ideas in which he has lived '? What does he
care for the progress of the interior when he himself

214 UFF. IN THE ARGENTIKE BKPDBLIC.

is ill the midst of wealth, possessing a custom-honse
which brinfip in two millions a year without any trouble

on his part?

Salta, Jujui, Tncuman, Santa Fe, Corrientes, and
Enti-e-Rios, would now rival Buenos Ayres if the in-
dustrial movement so eagerlv bejiun, could have con-
tinued. As it is, some of its results remain : Tucuman
now has large sugar-presses, and distilleries, which
would bring great wealth if tlie products could be
carried with less expense to the coast and exchanged
in Buenos Ayres for merchandise. But no evils are
eternal, and a day must come wlien the eyes of this
people will be opened, who are now denied all liberty
of pro{:ress, and are deprived of all capable and intelli-
gent men, who could carry on the great work, and bring,
about in a few years the prosperity for which Nature
has destined this now stationary, impoverished, devas-
tated country. Why are such men persecuted? Brave,
enterprising men, who employed their lives in various
social improvement.'*, encouraging public education,
introducing the cultivation of tlie mulberry and tlie
sugar-cane, exploring the water-courses, with only the
national interest at heart, and desiring no other reward
than the satisfaction of serving their fellow-citizens I
Wliy do we not see again arising the spirit of European
civilization which, however feeble, did once exist in the
Argentine Repubhc? Why has the present govern-
ment — more truly Unitarios in spirit than ever Riva-'
davia intended — never given a thought to the investi-
gation of the inexhaustible and yet untouched resources
of a favored soil? Why has not even a twentieth part
"of the millions employed in a fratricidal war been used

PERSECUTION.

215

to edacate the people or to facilitate trade ? What has
been given to this people in exchange for its sacrifices
and sufferings ? A red rag I This is the extent of the
government's care of them for fifteen years ; this is the
only measure of the national administration ; the only
relation between master and slave, the mark upon the
cattle!

CHAPTER Xni.

BABRANCA. TACO ! ! !

**Tbfe fire which burnt AttMuiia ao ktog wma at last trtingafahcid. All tha x«d
blood has flowed, and tba tears of oar children have been wiped awaj. Now we
hold the cord of fiMleratkm and frieadship/' — Co<c/m's Hufory o/tJu Six NmUons.

The conqueror of Ciudedala had driven the last sap-
porters of the Unitario system beyond the confines of
the Republic. The guns were hushed, and the tramp
of cavalry was no longer heard on the pampas. Fa-
cundo returned to San Juan, and disbanded his army ;
but he restored the nominal value of what money he
had taken from San Juan by the spoils of Tucuman.
What more was there to do ? Peace was then the
normal condition of the Republic, as war had been
before.

The conquests of Quiroga had destroyed all feeling
of independence in the provinces, all regularity of ad-
ministration. Liberty had ceased, and Quiroga's name
took the place of law. In this portion of the Republic
all leaders were united in one, and Jujui, Salta, Cata-
marca, Tucuman, Rioja, San Juan, and Mendoza, re-
mained under the sole influence of Quiroga. In a
word, the Federals had disappeared as well as the Uni-
tarios, and the most complete unity existed in the per-
son of the conqueror. Thus the undivided organiza-
tion of the Republic which Rivadavia had attempted,

IDEA OF GOTERXMENT, 217

and which had occasioned the contest, was reahzed in
the ijiterior at least, unless we can admit the existence
of a confederation of cities which have lost all free will,
and are at the mercy of a single leader. But in spite
of the misajiplication of common terms, the facts are
too plain to be doubted. Facundo even spoke con-
temptuously of the much t.ilked-of Confederation ; pro-
posed to his friends that they should choose a provin-
cial for President of the Repubhc, and suggested Dr.
Jos^ Santos Ortez, ex-governor of San Luis, his own
iriend and secretarj'. " He is not a. rough gaucho like
myself," he said, " but a scholar and an honest man ;
the man who knows how to do justice to his enemies,
is worthy of confidence."

Thus it appears thatQuiroga, after routing the Uni-
tarios, went back to the old idea he entertained before
the struggle — the advocacy of a presidency and the
necessity of putting in order the afiairs of the Repub-
hc. Yet some doubts troubled him. " Now, general,"
some one said to him, " the nation will be governed by
Federal principles." " Hum," he answered, shaking
his head, " there are still some obstacles in the way,"
and he added, with a significant look, " our friends
below (Buenos Aj-res) do not wish for a constitution."
When communications from Buenos Ayres came, and
journals which gave the promotions of various officers
who had commanded in the useless ai'niy of Cordova,
Quiroga said to General Huidobro, " You see they
have no titles to bestow upon my officers after all we
have done here ; we should belong to the port, to get
atiything." Knowing that Lopez was in possession of
his Arabian horse, and did not send it to him, he was

218 LIFE IN THE ARGENTINE BEPDBLIC.

very an;^-, and exclaimed, " Ah, gaucho-stealer of
cows, you will pay dearly for the pleasure of being
well mounted ! " And he continued his threats and
abuse until his friends were alarmed at his indiscretion.
What (lid Quiroga intend to do now ? He was gov-
ernor of no province, and had no army under his com-
mand ; nothing remained to him but Jiis arms and the
terror of Iiis name. On his way to Rioja he had left
hidden in the woods all the guns, swords, and lances
which he had collected in the eigjit cities be had over-
run, numbering more than twelve thousand. He de-
posited in the city twenty-six pieces of artillery, with
plenty of baggage and ammunition, and moreover he
had sixteen hundred fine horses at pasture in the
ravines of Cuyo. Rioja was tlie cradle of his power,
the very centre of his influence in the provinces ; at a
signal its arsenal would equip twelve thousand men
for war. Some- may incline to doubt these facts, but
even as late as 1841 arms were dug up that had been
concealed at that time. In 1830 General Madrid took
possession of a treasure of thirty thousand dollars be-
longing to Quiroga, and soon after it was said that
fifteen more had been found. Quiroga wrote to him
charging him with having taken thirty-nine thousand
dollars ; and doubtless much more had been buried
before the battle at Oncativo, during the time when
so many cities were despoiled. As to the real amount
concealed in those two parcels, Aladrid afterwards
thought that Quiroga gave it rightly, for the discoverer
of the last parcel, having been taken prisoner, offered
ten thousand dollars for his life, and when this was not
accepted, committed suicide by cutting his throat.

ROSAS GOVERNOR OF BUEXOS AYRES. 219

Thus the interior bad now a chief; he who had been
conquered at Onoalivo, and who had in Buenos Ayres
only been entrasted with a few hundred convicts, was
now the second, if not the first in power. To make
the division of tlie Republic into two parts more decided,
tlie provinces bordering on the Plata had made a league
or confederation by wliich their liberties and independ-
ence were mutually assured ; though a certain kind of
feudalism still existed in the persons of Lopez of Santa
F^, Ferr^, and Rosas, — leaders sprung from the people
whom they govenied. Rosas had already begun to
influence public affairs very decidedly. After the
victory over Lavalle, he was made governor of Buenos
Ayres, and until 1832 filled the oftice as well as any
other would have done. I must not omit a significant
fact. From the first, Rosas demanded to be invested
with absolute power, but was strongly opposed by his
partisans in the city. By pereuasions and deceptions
he succeeded in obtaining it during the war of Cordo-
va, and when that was ended, he was eagerly desired
to give up this unlimited power. The city of Buenos
Ayres did not then imagine that it could exist as an
absolute govemment, whatever the principles of its
political parties might be. Rosas, however, resisted,
gently but ably. "It is not that I wish to make use
of such power," he said, " but, as my secretary, Gar-
cia Zuniga, says, the schoolmaster must hold his whip
in hand tliat his authority may be respected." Ha
considered this comparison entirely appropriate, and
repeated it frequently, — the citizens were the children,
tlie governor, man and master,

Rosas was obliged to yield ; but the ex-governor had

220 LIFE IN THE AKGESTINE BEPCBLIC.

no intention of becoming a mere citizen ; the labor and
patience of many years were about to bring their re-
ward. During his legal term of service be learned all
the entrances to the citadel, and all the ill-fortified
points ; and if he then left the government, it was only
to take it by assault from the outside, without any
constitutional restrictions, without being fettered by
responsibility to any one. He laid down the tnmciieon
to take up first the sword, and afterward the battle-axe.
Not long before he resigned the government, a great
expedition, led by himself, was prepared to extend and
protect the southern boundaries of the province which
were exposed to frequent invasions of the savages.
Everything was arranged on a large scale : an army
composed of three divisions was to form a line of four
hundred leagues, from Buenos Ayres to Mendoza.
Quiroga was to command the forces of the interior,
while Rosas, with his division, followed the Atlantic
coast. The magnificence and utility of the enterprise
concealed from the eves of the people the political
manoeuvre hidden under this plausible pretext. For
what could be more desirable than to secure the south-
ern frontier by making a large river the boundary
between it and the Indians, and protecting it with a
line of forts ; a very practicable design, whicli had
already been clearly marked out in the voyage of Cruz
from the city of Conception, in Chili.

But Rosas had no idea of engaging in any enterprise
which tended only toward the good of the Republic.
His troops marched as liir as Rio Colorado, moving
slowlvi and making observations on the soil, climate,
and other circumstances of the country through which

ROSAS ASD FACDNDO. 221

they passed. Tliey destroyed some Indian huts, and
took a few poor prisoners ; and this was all tliat was
effected by the great expedition, which left the frontier
as defenseless as it had been before, and is still. The
divisions of Mendoza and San Luis returned equally
unsuccessful from the deserts of the soutli, Rosas
then raised for the first time his red flag, like that of
Algiers, and assumed the title of Hero of the Desert, in
addition to that already acquired, of Restorer of the
Laws — those same laws which he was now about to
destroy.

Facundo, too keen to be deceived as to the object of
the expedition, remained at San Juan until the divis-
ions of the interior returned. The division commanded
by Hnidobro, which had been in the desert o]iposit6
San Luis, marched towards Cordova, and its approach
put a stop to a rebellion headed by the Castillos, the
object of which was to take the government from the
Reinafes who were under the influence of Lopez. This
rebellion was evidently gotten up at the instigation of
Facundo ; its leaders were from San Juan, the residence
of Quiroga, and their supporters were his well-known
partisans. The journals of the time, however, say
nothing about Facundo's connection with that move-
ment ; and when Huidobro retired to his provincial
home, and Arridondo, with other lenders of the re-
bellion, was shot, there was nothing more to be said or
done ; for the war about to begin between the two
parties of the Republic, between the two leaders who
were contending for supremacy, was to be a jwar of
ambuscades, snares, and treachery. It was a silent
combat ; not a trial of strength between armies, bat

222 LIFE IN THE ARGENTINE REPUBLIC,

between audacity on one side, and skill and cunning on
the other. This atmirtrlp hptv-een Quirotra and Eosos
is but little undersfoofl» thtjutrh it lasted five years.
Ep"!' i^at-jL aacl d^'nisfd the othyr-and neit'""- lost
sight of the other for a moment, for each felt that his
life and success depended on the result of this terrible
game.

Perhaps it will be well to make a political chart of
the Republic from 1822, that the reader may better
compreliend the following operations.

ARGEXTISE REPDBLfc.
Region of the Andes. • Bordtrt of (he Plata.

Jujui, Rioja<

Saha, San Juan,

Tucuman, Mvndoza,

Catamarca, Sao Luis.

Corrientes, -

Entre Rios, )

Sanla Fc,

Cordova,

Buenos Ayrea, — Rosas,

Feudal Faction.
Santiago del Estero, — Ibarra.

Lopez, of Santa F^, extended his influence by means
of Ecliague, a creature of his, and over Cordova through
the Reinafes. FerriS, a man of independent spirit, kept
Corrientes out of the siruggle until 1839. Under the
rule of Beron de Astrada, that province turned airainst
Rosas, who, with his increase of power, had regarded
the League as of no effect. This same FerrS was led
by his narrow provincial spirit to denounce Lavalle as
a deserter in 1840, for having crossed the Parana with
the army of Corrientes ; and after the battle of Chaa-
guazu he took the victorious army from General Paz,

FACUSDO AT BDEXnS AVRRS. 228

thus losing tlie important advantages which might have
been secured by that victory. FerrS in these proceed-
ings and others, was actuated by the spirit of provin-
cial independence which had grown up during the war
with Spain. Thus the same feeling which had thrown
Corrientes into opposition to tlie Unitario constitntion
in 1826, made it in 1S38 oppose Rosas, who was at-
tempting a centralization of power. Thence came
Ferre's mistakes, and the misfortunes whidi followed
the battle of Chaaguazu, making it of no use to the
Republic, the general, or the province itself; fur if the
rest of the Republic should be consolidated under
Rosas, Corrientes could not maintain its feudal and
federal independence,

The southern expedition being ended, or rather
stopped, for it had neither plan nor end, Facundo
marched to Buenos Ayreswitb Barcala and his chosen
band, and entered the city without taking the trouble
to announce his anival. Such neglect of ordinary
forms might be commented upon were it not entirely
cjiaracteristic. What brought Quiroga to Buenos
Ayrcs at this time ? Was it another invasion like that
of MendoKa in the verj' stronghold of his rival ? Or
did this barbarian at last desire to live amidst the luxu-
ries of civilization? It is probable that all these causes
urged Facundo to his ill-adviaed journey to Buenos
Ayres. Power instructs, and Quiroga had all the high
qualities of mind which enable a man to adapt himself
to any new position, whatever it may be. He estab-
lished himself in Buenos Ayres, and was soon sur-
rounded by tlie principal men of tlie place ; he bought
shares in the public liinds to the amount of six hundred

224 LIFE m THE ARGENTINE REPUBLIC.

thousand dollars ; played for various stakes ; spoke
contemptuously of Rosas ; declared himself a Unitario
among Unitarios, and talked continually about tlie con-
stitution. His pa!;t life, his barbarous deeds, little
known at Buenos Ayres, were explained and excused
by the desire of conquest, and the necessity of self-
preservation. His present conduct was temperate, his
manner dignifii'd and imjxising, though he still wore
the chaqueta, the striped poncho, and long hair and
beard.

During his residence at Buenos Ayres, Quiroira made
some trials of his personal strength. As he was walk-
ing, wrapped up as usual in his poncho, he [saw a man
with his knife drawn, refusing to yield to a policeman ;
and seizing the fellow, disarmed him, and carried him
to the station ; he had not given the policeman his
name, but was recognized at the station by an officer,
and next day the papers all related the story. He
heard one day that an apothecary had spoken contemp-
tuously of his barbarity in the provinces, and went to
his office to inquire about it, but this time was not very
successful ; the physician, nothing daunted, told him
that he would not be able to ill-treat people in Buenos
Ayres as he had done in the provinces, and the stoiy
was circulated with great satisfaction in the city. Yet
this Buenos Ayres, so proud of its institutions, was,
before the end of a year, to be treated with greater
barbarity than the interior bad ever received at the
hands of Quiroga. The police once went to Quiroga's
house in search of him, and he overcame iiis first im-
pulse to defend liimself, feeling that there was a greater
power than his, and that he might at any time be im-

, FACDNDO'S NEW PLANS. 225

prisoned should he take his defense into his own hands.
Qiiiroga's sons were in the best schools, and he made
them wear the European dress ; and when one of them
insisted on leaving his studies for the army, he was
placed by his father in one of the regiments as drum-
mer, until he should repent of his folly.

Quiroga used to declare that tlie only writers good
for anything were the Varelas, who had abused him so -
much, and that the only honest men in the Re]iiibHc
were Rivadavia and Paz. To the Unitarios he said
that lie only wanted a secretary like Dr. Ocampo, — a
politician who cculd write out a constitution, and he
would march with it to San Luis, and thence show it
to the whole Republic at the point of a lance. Quiroga
represented himself as the leader of a new attempt to
organize the Republic, and he might be said to have
conspired openly had he done more than talk. His
natural habit of idleness, and of expecting everything
from teiTor, and perhaps the novelty of surrounding
circumstances, prevented him from acting with energy,
and at last put him in the power of his rival. There
is no proof that Quiroga proposed any immediate action,
unless it be found in his understanding with the gov-
ernors of the interior, and his indiscreet words, repeated
by both parties, tiiough the Unitarios did not dare to
trust tbeir cause to such hands, and the Federals looked
upon hira as a deserter from their ranks.

While he thus gave himself up to dangerous indo-
lence, the serpent which was to crush him in its folds,
drew nearer and nearer. In the year 183<i, Rosas,
while nominally occupied with the great expedition,
kept bis army in the south, and narrowly watched

226 LIFE IN THE ARGENTINE REPUBLIC.

BatiDos Ayres and the progress of Balcarce's govern-
ment. The province of Buenos Ayres soon presented
a most singnlar spectacle. Imagine what would hap-
pen if a large comet sliould approach the earth : first
a general disturbance, tlien deep, far-oif rumblings,
then oscillations of the earth attracted from its orbit,
then a mighty convulsion followed by the upheaval of
mountains, and finally the deluge and cbaos that have
preceded the successive creations on our globe. Such
was the influence exerted by Kosas in 1834. The gov-
ernment of Buenos Ayres became more and more
restricted, more embarrassed in its movement, more
dependent on the "hereof the desert," Every commu-
nication from him was a reproach to the governor, ex-
orbitant requisitions for the army or some unprece-
dented demand. Soon the civil authorities lost all
influence over the country population, and complaint
was made to Rosas, who was supposed to control the
peasantr}' ; but in a short time the same disregard of
authority spread rapidly over the city itself, until it
became no uncommon thing for armed men to ride
through the streets, now and then firing upon the citi-
zans. This disorganization of society increased daily,
and it was not difficult to trace an influence from the
camp of Rosas to the country districts, — from these
to the suburbs of the city, and thence to a certain class
of men within the city. The government of Balcarce
succumbed to tliis power from without, and the parti-
sans of Rosas worked hard to open the way for him,
but tlie Federal party of the city made constant oppo-
sition. The chamber of representatives assembled in
the midst of the confusion caused by the resignation

FACDNDO'S SECRET OPPOSITION TO EOSAS. 227

of Balcarce, and chose General Viamont governor,

who readily accepted the office.

For a short time order seemed to be reestablished,
and tlie city once more breathed freely, but soon the
same confusion began again, and the same outrages
were committed in the streets. It is imposBible to
describe the state of constant alarm in which the peo-
ple lived during two years of this strange and syste-
matic persecution. Frequently, without any apparent
cause, people were seen running through the streets,
the noise of closing doors was heard from house to
house ; some whisper had passed around — some one
had observed a suspicious looking group of men, or
the clatter of hoofs had been heard.

On one of these occasions Quiroga was passing by
a street, and seeing well-dressed men running without
knowing for what, he looked contemptuously at a group
of armed ruffians, and said, " It would not have been
so, had I been here,"

" And what would you have dune, general ?" asked
his companion, " you have no influence over these
people."

Quiroga raised his head, and with flashing eyes, an-
swered, "Look you, if I should go into the street, and
say to the first man I met, ' Follow me,' would he not
follow ? "

There was such an overpowering energy In Quirc^'s
words, and his figure was so imposing, tliat they rarely
fiiiled to impress strongly.

General Viamont resigned at last, because he saw
that he could not govern ; that there was a powerful
hand holding the reins of the admiuistration ; and no

228 LIFE IN THE ARGENTINE HEPOBLIC.

one could be found to succeed liim, none dared accept
the office. After awhile, however, Dr. Maza was
placed at the head of the government, and as he was
the old master and friend of Rosas, it was hoped that a
remedy had been found for the evil. A vain hope,
for the distress increased rather than diminished. An-
chorena petitioned the governor to repress the social
disorders, knowing that this was not in his power, that
the police force would not obey ; that the real power
came from without.

General Guido and Dr. Alcorla, in the chamber of
representatives, earnestly protested against the violent
commotion in which the city was kept, but the evil still
increased, and to aggravate it, Rosas, from his camp,
reproached the governor with the disorders which he
himself had fomented. Finally a committee of repre-
sentatives went to offer hini the government, saying
that he alone could put an end to the suffering which
tliey had endured for two years. But Rosas refused,
and then there were new commissions, and new per-
suasions, until Rosas consented to do the people the
favor of governing them, on condition that the legal
term of three years should be extended to five years,
and that the " highest public power " should be given
him ; an expression invented by 4iimself, he alone un-
derstanding its meaning.

In the midst of these arrangements between Rosas
and the city of Buenos Ayres, news came of a difficulty
between the governors of Salta, Tucuman, and Santi-
ago del Estero, which might result in war. Five years
had passed since the Unitarios disappeared from the
])Dlitical world, and two since the city Federals had lost

FACUNDO'S PEESEKTIUENTS. 229

tlieir influence in the government, but had courage to
exact conditions which made capitulation tolerable.
While the **dty" surrendered at discretion, with its
institutions, its liberties, etc., Rosas was CRtrying on
complicated machinations outside. He was evidently
in communication with Lopez of Santa F^, and there
was even a conference between the two leaders. The
government of Cordova was under the influence of
Lopez, who had placed the Reinaffis at its head. Fa-
cundo was now invited to go and use his influence to
settle the diffiruUies which had arisen in the northern
part of the Republic, no one else being chosen to aid
him in this mission of peace. He refused at first, tlien
hesitated, and finally accepted.

It was on the 18th of December, in 1835, that Fa-
cundo took leave of the citv, saying to his friends, " If
I succeed, you will see me again, if not, farewell for-
ever." At the last moment this intrepid man was
assailed by dark presentiments ; it will be remembered
that something similar happened to Napoleon when he
was leaving the Tuilleries for Waterloo.

He had scarcely made half a day's journey when a
muddy brook stopped his carriage. The travelling at-
tendant came up and tried to get it over ; new horses
were put in, and every effort made to move the car-
riage, but in vain, and Quiroga falling into a rage,
ordered the man himself to be harnessed to the vehi-
cle. His brutality and terrorism appeared again as
soon as he found himself without the city. Tliis first
obstacle being overcome, he went on across the pampas,
always travelhng until two o'clock in the night, and
starting again at four. He was accompanied by Dr.

230

LIFE IN THE ARGENTINE KEFDBLIC.

Ortez, his secretary, and a well-known yonnp man,
who had been prevented from continuing the journey
in his own carriage by tfie loss of a wheel soon after
starting.

At every post Facundo eagerly asked liow long it
was since a courier from Buenos Ayres had passed ;
the usual answer was, "about an hour," after which
he called hurriedly for horses, and drove on rapidly.
Their comfort was not increased by the rain, which
fell in torrents two or three days. On entering the
province of Santa F^, Quiroga"s anxiety increased, and
it became absolute agony when, on reaching the post
at Pavon, he found that the post-master was absent,
and that there were no horses to be had immediately.
His companions saw no cause for this mood, and were
astonished to find this man who was a terror to the
whole Republic, a prey to what seemed groundless
fears.

When the carriage once more started, he muttered
in a low tone to himself, " If I only get beyond the
boundaries of Santa Fii, it is enough."

At List they arrived at Cordova, at half-past nine at
night, just an hour after the courier from Buenos
Avres, who had preceded them all the way. One of
the Reinafds hastened to the post-station where Fa-
cundo still sat in his carriage calling for horses, and
greeting him respectfully, invited him to pass the night
in the city where the governor had already prepared
for his reception. But to each renewed otter of hos-
pitality, Quiroga only answered by a call for horses,
until ReinafiS retired mortified, and Facundo set out
again at twelve o'clock at night.

FACDNDO'3 OBSTINACY. 231

Meanwhile the city of Cordova was filled with mys-
terious rumors ; the friends of the young man who had
by chance come with Quiroga, and who stopped at
Cordova, his native place, went to see him in crowds,
seeming to be much astonished at finding him alive.
Tliey informed him that he had a narrow escape ; that
Quiroga was to have been assassinated at a certain
place ; tliat the assassins were engaged and the pistols
purchased ; but lie had escaped them by his haste, for
the courier had scarcely arrived and announced his
coming, when he appeared himself, frustrating all their
plans. Never was such a thing undertaken with so
little secrecy ; the whole city knew alt the particulars
of the crime intended by the government, and Quiro-
ga's assassination was the only subject of conversation.

Quiroga arrived at his destination, settled the diffi-
culties between the hostile governors, and started back
to Cordova, in spite of the reiterated entreaties of the
governors of Santiago and Tucuman, who offered him
a large escort, and advised him to return by way of
Cuyo. It would seem that some avenging spirit made
him obstinately persist in defying his enemies, without
escort, and without any means of defense, when he
might have gone by tlie Cuyo road, disinterred his
immense deposit of arms at Rioja, and armed the eight
provinces which were under his influence. He knew
all ; had received re|>eated intimations in Santiago
del Estero; he knew t!ie danger he had escaped by
his rapid progress; knew the greater one which awaited
him, for his enemies had not given up their design.
" To Cordova 1 " he cried to the postilion, as if Cor-
dova was to be the end of his journey.

282 UFB Ur THE ABOENTINE BEPUBUa

Before thejr reached the post-station of Ojo del Agoa,
a young man came out of the woods into the road, and
asked at the carriage for Dr. Ortez, who got out and
heard from the young man, that Santos Perez with a
military company was stationed near a place called
Barranca- Yacco ; that as the carriage passed they were
to fire into it from both sides, and afterwards kill the
postilions ; no one was to escape ; the orders were
positive. The young man, who had formerly been
befriended by Ortez, now came to save him, and had a
horse ready at a little distance for him to ride. The
secretary, astounded by this news, told Quiroga what
he had heard and urged him to save himself. Facundo
questioned the young man again, and thanked him for
the information, but told him he might make himself
easy, adding in a loud voice, " The man is not bom
who will kill Quiroga ; at a word from me to-morrow,
that whole company will put itself under my command,
and escort mo to Cordova."

These words of Quiroga, which I have but recently
learned, explain why he so strangely persisted in de-
fying dcatii. Pride and faith in the terror of his name,
urged him on to the fatal catastrophe. I had already
so accounted for it in my own mind, before I had the
confirmation of his words.

Tiio night which the travellers passed at the post-
station of Ojo del Agua, was one of great agony to the
unhappy secretary, who was going to a certain death
without the half-savage valor and rashness which in-
spii'ctl Quiroga ; death never seems more terrible than
when im|H>sed by the senseless bravado of a friend, and
when thei'e would be no dishonor in avoiding it. Dr.

FACUSDOS IJJDIVIDUAUTr. 233

Ortez took the post-master aside and asked him about
tlie report he liad heard, promising not to abuse his
confidence ; he was told that Santos Perez had been
there with his company of thirty men not an hour be-
fore, and they were then stationed at tlie appointed
place, fidly armed ; that all who accompanied Quiroga
were to be killed, as Perez himself had said. This
corroboration of the information before received did
not alter the determination of Quiroga, who, after
taking a cup of chocolate, as usual, slept profoundly ;
unlike Ortez who lay awake thinking of his wife and
children whom he would see no more, and only because
he could not incur tlie charge of disloyalty to his fi-iend,
— a friend more to be feared than many enemies. At
midnight, his agony becoming insupportable, he got
up with a faint hojie of receiving some comfort from
tlie post-master. But the man could only repeat what
he had already told, and showed unfeigned anxiety
himself, for, as he said, the two postilions he was
obliged to provide would have to share the same fate.
Ortez then aroused Quiroga, and made one more at-
tempt to dissuade iiim from his purpose, saying that he
could not accompany him if he poreisted. Quiroga
laughed at his fears, and gave him to understand that
his own anger would be more dangerous than anything
lie could meet at Barranca -Yacco ; so that the unfor-
tunate man could only submit. Quiroga then called
his strong negro servant and set him to cleaning some
arms ; this was all he could be induced to do in the
way of precaution.

Daylight came at last, and the carriage started, ac-
companied by two postillions, one of whom was a mere

234 LIFE IS THE ARGENTINE EEPDBLIC.

lad and nephew of one of the company which lay in
wait for them ; two couriers wlio accidentally joined
the party, and the negro who went on horseback.
They soon reached the fatal spot, two discharpes were
fired into the carriages from each side of the road, bnt
withont wounding any one; then the soldiers rushing
up sword in hand, disabled the horses in a moment,
and cut to pieces the driver and couriers. Quiroga
meanwhile put his head out of the window and said to
the commander of the company, " What is all this ? "
His only answer was a hall through his head. Santos
Perez then passed his sword several times through the
body, and when the butchery was completed, had the
carriage filled with dead bodies, and dragged into the
woods, with the murdered postilion still on his seat.
The young lad alone was alive, and Perez seeing him,
asked who he was. His sergeant replied, that the boy
was a. nephew of his, and that he would answer for
him with his hfe. Without a word, Perez walked up
to the sergeant, shot him through the heart, and then
seizing the boy by the arm, threw him on the ground
and cut bis throat in spite of his childish cries for
mercy. Yet in after life the death cries of this lad be-
came a pursuing torment to him, and sounded in his
ears, sleeping or waking, wherever he might be. Fa-
cundo had said of all tlie deeds he had committed, hut
one remorse troubled him, which was for the death of
the twenty-six officers shot at Mendoza.

This Santos Perez was a gauclio-outlaw, celebrated
in all the Sierra and city of Cordova for the many
murders he had committed, for his bold audacity and
extraordinary adventures. While General Paz was

SANTOS PEREZ, 235-

at Cordova this man liad gathered about him a large
band of the most lawless men, and occupied one of the
wild mountain districts. With higher ideas, he woxM
liave been equal to Quiroga, as it was, he was only his
assassin. He was very tall, had a pale, handsome fiice,
with a curly black beard,

Perez was long pursued as a criminal by the govern-
ment, and more than four hundred men were sent out
to look for him. Once he narrowly escaped being
poisoned by Reinafd ; at another time a party sent to
take him was commanded by an old friend of his, who
sent for him under pretense of having something to
say to him, Perez went down to him, saying, " Here
I am, what is wanted ? " and when the captain hesi-
tated a moment with embarrassment, he turned on hia
heel, saying contemptnously, " I knew you wanted to
betray me, and only came to make sure of it ; " and
before they could seize him, he had disappeared. After
numerous escapes of this kind, he was at last delivered
up to justice through a woman's revenge. He had
beaten his mistress one night, and when he had fallen
asleep, she went out and told some policemen where
he was, having first removed his pistols from beside his
pillow. Being suddenly awakened, and seeing him-
self surrounded by armed men, he reached out hia
arm, and then said, quietly, " I surrender, they have
taken my pistols."

An immense crowd assembled in the streets when
he was carried into Buenos Ayres, and showered upon
him every kind of abusive epithet, but he only held
his head the higlier, and murmured disdainfully, " If I
but had my knife." He was followed with execrations

236

UFB DT THE ARGENTINE REPUBLia

as he walked to the scafibld, and his gigantic form,
like that of Danton, towered above the crowd around
him.

The government of Baenos Ayres gave great solem-
nity to the execution of Quiroga's assassins ; the blood-
stained, ball-pierced carriage was long exposed to pub-
lic view, and lithographs of Quiroga, and of those
executed on the scaffold, were distributed among the
people. But the impartial historian will one day ex-
pose the real instigator of the assassination.

CHAPTER XIV.

7RUR JOst FELIX ALDAO, BRIGA.DIER-GEKERXL AND
GOVERNOR.

Oif the 4th of February-, 1817, the following inci-
dent happened in a deep, narrow valley of the Andes,
through which the river Aconcagua rushes from rock
to rock in its sudden descent. It was near sunset as
the vanguard of the division, commanded by Colonel
Las Heras, marched silently down the mountain to-
wards Chili, by the rough, rocky road leading through
Uspallata. The fort, known by the name of "La
Guardia Vieja," was visible far down in the valley, and
had the appearance of being entirely unoccupied, but
a detachment of Spanish soldiers was concealed within,
watching the approach of the insurgents, and prepared
for a combat. Presently two discharges were fired
from the fortifications ; a company of the eleventh
rebel regiment immediately advanced, firing, from the
bank of the river to within twelve paces of the fort,
while another defiled along the mountain side to pre-
vent all possibility of the escape of the Spaniards. A
moment afterwards tliey carried tlie walls at the point
of the bayonet, and wherever the contest was most
desperate, were seen flashing the swords of thirty
grenadiers, under Lieutenant Jos6 Aldao. Among
these was a strange figure dressed in wlute, like some

238 LIFE IN THE ARGENTINE EEPDBLIC.

phantom, and dealing blow after blow with wild feroc-
ity. This was the chaplain of tlie division, who,
can'ied away by excitement, had obeyed the order to
charge, which, wlicn given to the conquerors of San
Lorenzo, was sure to be followed by a battle in which
no quarter was given.

When the victorious vanguard returned to the forti-
fied encampment occupied by Las Heras and the rest
of the division, the commander saw by the blood-stains
on the scapulary of the chaplain, that he had been in-
creasing the number of the dead instead of comforting
the dying, and signified to him that he would do better
to keep to bis breviary and leave the sword to warriors.
The hot-tempered chaplain could iji-brook this reproof,
and turned hastily away with flashing eyes and com-
pressed hps. On dismounting at his lodgings, he
grasped the sword still hanging at his sidu, saying to
himself, " We sliall see." Thus was formed an irrev-
ocable resolution. That evening's combat had re-
vealed his natural instincts in all their strength, praving
how little fitted he was for a profession requiring mild-
ness and brotherly love ; he had felt the pleasure in
shedding blood which is natural to those who have the
organ of destructiveness strongly developed ; war at-
tracted him irresistibly ; he wished to rid himself of
the troublesome gown he wore, and to win the laurels
of the soldier in place of the symbol of humiliation and
penitence ; he therefore determined that he would be
no longer a priest, but a soldier, as were Jos^ and
Francisco, his brothers. The fear of scandal would
not deter him, for he could cite many examples in his
favor; the celebrated engineer Beltran, who had lighted

THE CATHOLIC PARTr AND KELIGIOK. 239

with resinous torches the dangerous passes of the Andes,
and who afterwards prepared at Santiago congreve
rockets to be thrown into the forts of Callao, was also
a priest who had laid aside the gown, finding that he
was able to serve his country more effectually than the
church. In all parts of America, especially in Mexico,
priests and monks bad led the insurgents, taking ad-
vantage of the influence which their priestly office
gave them over the common people. However, the
chaplain Aldao was not troubled with a scrupulous
conscience, and would not have been deterred from
his resolution even without the excuse of such exam-
ples. He belonged to a poor, but honorable family of
Mendoza, and had shown from bis infancy such willful-
ness and disregard of authority, that his parents edu-
cated him for the priesthood, in the hoyie that its
solemn duties would reform his evil tendencies; a fatal
mistake, for his novitiate was, like his childhood, a
continued course of violence and immorality. Not-
withstanding this, be received sacred orders in Chtli,
in 1806, under the episcopacy of Meran, and the pat-
ronage of the reverend father Velasquez, who assisted
him at Ins first mass at Santiago, and who was greatly
scandalized at seeing the newly made priest after the
battle of Cbacabuco in military costume, and with the
martial bearing of a soldier. " Thou wilt repent of
this," cried the good priest, in his horror at this profa-
nation ; but unfortunately for tlie Argentine people
the prophecy was not fultilled, for the apostate, though
unmourned, died a natural death, and with tile honors
of a victorious general.

240 LIFE IN THE AKGESTINE KEPDBLIC.

Colonel Las Heras, in his official report of the battle
of La Guardia Vieja, made favorable mention of the
priest, for capturing two officers, wliich, according to
military rule, gives a claim to promotion ; and conse-
quently, the priest who had made his first experiment
in fighting at Guardia Vicja, appeared at the battle of
Chacabuco in the uniform of a lieutenant of grenadiers,
and won a soldier's laurels. Though he could never
rid himself of his priestly title, he soon proved in his
new career that he did not wear the sword in vain,
and became renowned as a formidable warrior and an
implacable enemy ; known to the army and the public
generally, as " E! fraile,"' or the monk,

I will mention one of the manv remarkable deeds
performed by him at tliat lime. In the pursuit after
the battle of Maipu, a Spanish grenadier of gigantic
stature was cutting his way through the surrounding
enemies, and with each blow of his mighty sword
stretching a lifeless body on the ground ; the brave
Lavalle attempted to approach him, but felt hia eager
valor cool whenever the confusion of the struggle
brought them together, Aldao, seeing this, made his
way up to the giant, and, instead of falling with the
many other victims, beat aside the terrible sword and
jMissed his own again and again through the body of
the huge Spaniard, amidst the loud acclamations of his
party.

But whatever honorable deeds in arms the recreant
priest may have accomplished, his conduct would at
any other time, or in any other circumstances, have
covered him with opprobrium. Freed from the re-
straint hitherto imposed upon his inclinations by the

CAPTAIN UITDEH SAN MAETIN. 241

priestly office, eager for pleasure, and perhaps impelled
to excesses by tlie necessity for excitement in which
men often seek to drown any possible remorse for a
wrong step in life, the monk henceforth became famous
for his disorderly habits ; his private life being devoted
to intoxication, cards, and women. But perhaps even
these vices would have been forgiven, had tliey not
outlasted tJie first excitement of unrestrained youth,
and followed him to the end of his life. He abused
even the large indulgence witli wliich his companions
in arms regarded liis conduct, and though his com-
manders were very willing to make use of his courage,
they took care to send him to a distance whenever it
was possible to do so with advantage. Whatever differ-
ences of opinion there may be among men, all feel a
repugnance at seeing a priest stained witli blood, and
given over to intoxication and vice.

Aldao had the rank of captain in the army which
left Valparaiso under command of San Martin, t& de-
liver Peru from the Spanish dominion. In that coun-
try, where the main body of S|)anish forces was sta-
tioned, the insurgent army needed auxiliaries to harass
the enemy on all sides, and act as reserve forces. For
this purpose bands of guerrillas were organized in the
mountains, which kept the royalists in continual alarm.
Tliese bands required bold, fearless commanders, who
would risk everything to attain their ends, and who
shrank from nothing, not even pillage and assassination.
After taking part in the contests at Lacca and Pasco,
Captain Aldao was sent to raise one of these bands and
to act on his own responsibility, as circumstances should
suggesL His owo master, and witliin reach of no

242

LIFE IN THE ARGENTINE HEPUBLIC.

hiplier authority than hims^f. it can easily be con-
ceived that his violence and unrestrained passions found
plenty of victims among; a timid prople t^uite incapable
of resistance. A characteristic incidi-ni soon happened.
Aldao had determined to defend with his troop of
Indians the bridge of Iscuchaca, hut at tlie a])proach of
a detachment of Spaniards, more than a thousand na-
tives fled, thus losinj; their advantaf;eous position, and
without resistance delivering to tlie enemy an impor-
tant post. Their furious leader, unable to prevent
tlieir flight, fell upon them as upon a flock of sheep,
and did not cease slaying until a large, heap of dead
and wounded had fallen under the repeated strokes of
his sword. However bloody might have been a. con-
test at the bridge, and iiowever deadly the fire of the
Spaniards, fewer Indians would hare fallen than thus
lay on the ground, the victims of one man's anger.

The circumstances which occasioned the disbanding
of San Martin's armj', made it unnecessary for Aldao to
remain longer in the mountains, and with the rank of
lieutenant-colonel, he went to Lima, wlicre fortune
favored him at cards, until he Iiad gained a large for-
tune, and then he left for Paslo. He thei-e met a
beautiful young girl of i-espectable family, with whom
he became \-ioiently enamored, and who returned his
passion. This was no passing fancy, but a deep, last-
ing feeling on both sides, only strengthened by the
impossibihty of a lawful union, which would ever be
prevented by his priestly vows. Fortunately for him,
she was unselfish enough to consent to he the mistress
of a soldier whose epaulets could not conceal the stain
of apostasy, and, leaving friends and country, she fled

ALDA.0 AT MENDOZA, 243

with him where the humiliation of her social position
would be less known.

AlJao establiahefl himself at San Felipe, capital of
the province of Aconcagua, where he became a mer-
chant, and lived respectably; but the unfortunate pair
were coiiileinneil to suffer the inevitable consetjuences
of their false position, and the church which he had
repudiated, would not quietly see him in the arms of
another mistress. The cure Espinosa threatened to
send him to Santiago to the tender mercies of the
order he had abandoned, and finally forced him to re-
move to Mendoza, his native place, and carry tliere the
scandal of his unlawful union. The church is ever
bitter against those who have left her for social posi-
tions. If the monk Aldao could have married lawfully,
perhaps his passions might have been moderated by the
pleasures of home, and lie might have been saved from
the crimes of his after-life.

On recrossing the Andes, Jiis reflections must have
been strange, and anything but pleasant, ibr the moun-
tain ridge which separated two provinces, was also a
dividing line between the two phases of his existence;
on one side he had been the chaplahi, — the Dominican
friar, — on the other, he was the Lieutenant-Colonel
Felix Aldao, with an unwedded wife at Ins side. The
people of Mendoza, who had been accustomed to see
him with gown and rosary, would now see him with
sword and epaulets, and women and children would
point mockingly at "the Fraile," a name which came
to be a more [rainful wound than any received in bat-
tle. He avoided society, and secretly nourished a soit
of hatred for alt mankind, winch was the more bitter
because suppressed.

244 LIFE IN THE ARGENTINE REPDBLrC.

On his arrival at Mendoza, in 1824, he took a fann
at a little distance from the city, where he labored with
comiiiendable industry and intelligence, and where the
only drawback to his happiness was the remembrance
of the detested tie which still bound biin to the church.
In this retirement Aldao might have lived qnietly to
the end of his days, but unfortunately for himself and
his country, echoes of arms and civil war once more
resounded throu^jhout the land, and he was drawn into
that public life from which he was to escape only by
death, loaded with crimes and pursued by endless
maledictions.

The elements of destruction existing in the Argen-
tine Republic were then in molion, and were soon to
develop the cruel and despotic government whicb now
crushes it. The brilliant but artificial govorament
established by Rivadavia at Buenos Ayres, fascinated
its immediate supporters, but provoked jealousies and
opposition in the interior ; divers ambitions were de- -
veloping : the CaudiUos ' were soon to appear ; parties
were just forming ; the envy excited by a rich, power-
ful city in her poorer neighbors, clamored for a con-
federation ; Spanish prejudices caused many men to
oppose all reform: the presidential government seemed
to many a foreign domination ; ali was chaos ; the
clouds preceding the hurricane gathered darkly on the
horizon, and as the terror of birds indicates a coming
storm, so the general uneasiness of men's minds signi-
fied that some mighty commotion was at band.

Suddenly the storm burst upon Snn Juan with the

cry of " Viva la Religion ! " The government of Car-

1 Conatn- Chiefs.

THE ALDAO TEItJMVIKATE. 245

ril was overthrown, and in less than twenty-four hours
a. fiddler had become a general, a lame cobbler was
makintr laws, and a clown deciding; the fate of a coun-
try. One Maradona, a jiretended old nobleman, was
found to give some show of decency to the plebeian
mob ; and, unfortunatelvt deluded priests, believing it
to be a question of religion, placed the cross at the
head of this insurrection, — the beginning of the long
aeries of crimes which brought the Gepublic to its
present condition of barbarism. Two hundred citizens
fled to Mendoza, and besought aid from the brave
soldiers who had returned from Chili and Peru, Felix
Aldao among the rest. He hesitated, and asked him-
self why he should leave the asylum in which both his
glory and his shame were hidden ; but finally con-
sented, and under the command of his brother Jose,
marched to San Juan at the liead of a company which
obtained an easy victory ovei- the plebeian crowd, with-
out a leader or officers capable of directing its enthu-
siasm.

The A'dan brothers retumed to Mendoza covered
with laurels, and provided by their friends with money
obtained by exorbitant contributions imposed upon
their enemies. But the Aldaos had acquired in the
exjiedition something more than fume and inonev, —
the knowledge of their own power, — and formed a
brotherly league for the purpose of obtaining their
ends. AU three were colonels, all brave, inti-lligent,
and capable.
, This triumvirate has exercised a most pernicious
influence in the Argentine Republic, never yet ftiHy
appreciated. After reconquering Chili, San JSIartin

246 LIFE IN THE ARGENTINE REPUBLIC.

sent the first regiment of the Andes to San Juan with
orders to raise a company of dragoons, and then to join
the army which was to invade Peru. But Jos6 and
Francisco Aldao with other rebels, executed a miHtary
maneuver which deprived the army of this expected aid.
Most of the officers were assassinated, and the two
regiments, not having succeeded in occupying Men-
doza, where Colonel Alvarado and other forces of the
army were stationed, attempted a disastrous retreat to
Tucuman, and dispersed with the shame of having
deserted their banners.

The stragglers of the disbanded regiments, in pass-
ing througl) Rioja, met with a man already conspicuous
in the provincial rebellions, and whose name was des-
tined to become terrible in Argentine history. This
gaucho with keen black eyes, and a pale face, almost
covered with a thick, curly black beard, obtained from
the deserters their arms. The dream of years was
realized ; Facundo Quiroga was in possession of aims,
and provincial barbarism, tlie brutal passions of the
multitude, ])lebeian ambitions and prejudices, the tliirst
for blood and pillage, had at last their partisan, their
gaucho hero, their spirit personified. Facundo Quiro-
ga had arms, and men would not be wanting ; one cry
from him resounding from forest to plain, would bring
about him a thousand mounted crauchos.

Ah! when will an impartial history of the Argentine
Republic be written ? And when will its people be able,
without fear of a tyrant, to read the terrible drama of
the revolution, — the well-intentioned and brilliant,
but chimerical government of Rivadavia ; the power
and brutal deeds of Facundo Quiroga ; and the admin-

FUTURE DESTINY OF THE REPCBLia 247

istration of Rosas, the great tyrant of the nineteenth
century, who unconsciously revived the spirit of the
Middle Ages, and the doctrine of equality armed with
the knife of Danton and Robespierre. Had the de-
fense of Montevideo gloriously ended the revolutionarj-
period, we should have an epic poem in place of his-
tory, and in forty years sliould have jiassed through all
the changes and elaborations which have been devel-
ojied in Europe only with the lapse of many centuries.
That we have made for ourselves a military reputation,
witness Bi-azil, Chili, Peru, Bolivia, and the Indians to
the south of us ; our victonous arms have been carried
to the farthest extent of the continent. We have had
our institutions, and contests of ideas and principles.
And our future destiny is foretold in our numerous
rivers, the boundless pasturage of our plains, onr im-
mense forests, and a climate favorable to the produc-
tions of the whole world. If we lack an intelligent
population, let the peojile of Europe once fuel that there
is pennanent peace and freedom in our country, and
multitudes nf emigrants would tind tlieir way to a land
where success is sure. No, we are not lowest among
Americans. Something is to result from this chaos ;
either something surpassing the government of the
United Stales of North America, or something a thou-
sand times woree than that of Russia, — the Dark Ages
returned, or political institutions superior to any yet
known.

Jos^ and Francisco, after brining disorder into the
army which was to invade Pehi, and exciting revolts
in the interior, were taken priaonei-s and cari'ied to
Lima, where they would have received punishment

248 LIFE IN THE ARGEXTISE REPHBLIC.

for their misdeeds, had not the monk, chief of the
mountflin guerrillas, appeared and interceded for them
with San Martin, urping as a consideration his own
past services. Francisco, after the battle of Afracucho,
in which he served under EoHvar, returned to Chili,
■where he was enpaj;ed by Rivadavin's agents to go to
Mendoza and organize a force to dislodge Facundo
Quiroga, who had taken possession of San Juan. For
Quiroga, having heard something of the agitation among
the Catholics, lost no time in raising a black flag with a
red cross npon it,-and the words " Religion or Death ! "
though it is very certain that he did nothing for the
benefit of religion anywhere, and equally true that
violence and death constantly followed his footsteps.
It is singular to see how these restless Caudillos looked
for some pretense to disguise Uieir vague, undefined
ambition.

A letter addressed to Quiroga by one of his partl>
sans contains this statement : " We can't do anything
more with ' Religion or Death,' general, it no longer
makes an impression ; confedrration is the ivord for us
now ; let us have a Constitution, and we will carry it
at the point of the bayonet." Yet Quiroga was assas-
sinated while endeavoring to pursuade the Uniiarios to
join liim for the purpose of destroying Rosas and the
Federals.

Francisco Aldao arrived at Mendoza with ten thou-
sand dollars, which he had received heforeband for the
enterprise against Quiroga ; but a consultation with
his brothers caused him to change his mind, and keep-
ing the money, he joined with them in forming the
military trio from which Mendo.za suffered so many

BARCALA. 249

outrages. From this moment the Alilaos labored se-
cretly for the attainment of their own ends, the field
being open to all unprinci|)led ambitions. They re-
ceived an order to raise a regiment for the army of
Brazil, and accepted it, with the intention of using the
men for their own purpose.

Their ambition, however, met with an obstacle in
the person of a Creole negro. This slave, who early
showed the talent not unfrequent in descendants of the
African race, had been carefully educated by liia own-
ei*s, and was in condition to make use of his natural
endowments when occasion required. He began his
career aa his master's assistant, and was rapidly pro-
moted, until he became commander of a battalion,
which brought him in contact with the chief politicians
of the time, Barcala was not only one of the most
distinguished characters of the revolution, but his rep-
utation was untarnislied, and this could be said of very
few in those lawless days. He was a man of refined
mannei-s, tastes, and idt-as, and his success was owing
to his own merit. He never forgot his color and origin.
He acquired bis fame in history through his rare talent
for organization, and the gift which he possessed in a
high degree of conveying ideas to the masses; the
lower classes were transformed by the magic of his
power ; and the officers and soldiers of his training
were remarkable for tlieir good behavior, decent dress,
intelligence, and love of liberty. It was long before
the impression made by Barcala in Mendoza was
et&ced ; and in the revolution of 1840, against Rosu,
a large battalion of infantry in Cordova still bore his
name upon their banner, and resisted Rosas to the last.

250 LIFE IN THE ARGEKTINE REPtrHUC.

He liad been in Cordova in 1830, and had inspired its
artisans and laborers with the Icive of liberty and equal-
alily, in the broadest sense of these terms ; and, though
he ivns now dead, bis ideas remained in the hearts of
tiic people.

Obscure men who rise to power through tlie cliances
of social revolutions, never fail to persecute in others
the intelligence and knowledge which tiiey have not
themselves ; when the ignorant rule, civilization is
brought down to their own level, and woe to those who
rise above it, be it ever so little. In France, in 1793,
the sovereign peo]]k> pnillotined those who could read
and write as aristocrats; in the Argentine Republic,
men of culture were called savages, and had their
throats cut, and though the name seems mere irony, it
is something more when appHed by the assassin, knife
in hand. The Caudillos of the interior rid llieir prov-
inces of all lawyers, doctors, and men of letters; and
Rosas pursued them even within the walls of the uni-
versity and private .schools. Those who were allowed
to remain were sncli persons as could be useful in
pettinj; up a rejietltion of the governinent of Phihp II.
of Spain, and of the Inquisition.

Barcala felt himself to be a gentleman, and united a
spotless reputation to great professional knowledge, and
a talent for strategy which placed him among officers
of the first rank. He made himself famous in the
army of Brazil, and Paz and other officers of note re-
gai-ded him with a respect amounting to veneration,
Quiroga, who shot all the officers made prisoners at
Ciudadela, spared him — the only one who had fought
until the last of his men wore surrounded, and retreat

FACDNDO'S PALACE. 251

was impossible. When nfFered liis life on condition of
serving under Qniroga, lie occepted only with the
understnnding tliat he was not to fi(;ht agninst his own
party ; and in him Quiro^n gained a wliole army.

Such was the man whom the Aldaos wished to put
out of tlit'ir way; not a very difficult undertaking, since
Lavalle, the Aldaos, and Barcala himself were to unite
in an expedition to overthi-ow Albhi Gutierrez, who
had declared against the national government. Bar-
cala and Lavalle marched to join the army against the
empire, and the Aldaos remained to oppress the \ko~
pie, and givo themselves tip to the pleasures of dissipa-.
tion.

The triumvirate had made use of all parties, and had
served all parties in order to I'id iliemselves of influen-
tial men. The revolution hi favor of the national
goveniment having succeeded, they joined with Quiro-
ga for the purpose of destroying it. The Constitution
arranged by the Congress of 1826, was ofl'civd for
acceptance to the provinces. The agents of this Con-
gress were received in a rather singular manner by
Qniroga in behalf of San Juan, wliich he then occupied.
Two or three hides, stretched over lances stuck down
in the middle of a clover field, formed a tent to protect
this caliph of the faithful — this dlvitieli/ coimuigmoned
helper — from the rays of the sun ; here Facundo was
lying upon a black cloak, dressed in a crimson chiripa,
red clolli mantle, and untanncd boots.

Dr. Zavaleta, Dean of the Cathedral, and agent of
Congi-ess, was received in this palace, and stood em-
barrassed in the presence of the commander, who nei-
tlier moved nor looked at him, until he stammered a few

252 UFE m THE ARGEBrnNE REPUBLIC.

words aboat his mission. Facondo then stretched out
his hand, received the paper containing the Constitu-
tion, and wrote in the comer in scarcely legible char-
acters, "2)e«pacAad(?," and there was an end of the
matter.^

In Mendoza the result was no better. The ascent
from Congress pathetically expatiated upon the evils
existing in the Republic, conjured all patriots to unite
under a constitution which would insure universal
order and harmony of government ; but there was a
threefold ambition to satisfy, so he made his touching
speech with tears in his eyes in vain, and returned
without having accomplished anything. The Consti-
tution met with the same reception everywhere ; not
from the people, who were allowed no voice in the
matter, but from- the Caudillos, who desired to retain for
themselves entire liberty of action. The Constitution
would have restrained them, whereas they required an
open field for their ambitions, and pretexts for war, —
religion, confederation, — anything to disguise the uni-
versal ambition. Thus the national government fell,
and the celebrated Dorrego assumed the government
of Buenos Ayres. The old Unitarios could not under-
stand that Dorrego, with all his ambition and his in-
trigues, was nevertheless the only person who might
have organized the Republic under a parliamentary
form, and prevented it from being brought by Rosas
under the rule of a cruel despotism which was to
destroy all civilization and prosperity. Dorrego owed

1 Subftequent informntion makes it certain that this scene was but a
myth of the time, the only fact being that Facundo thus disposed of the
ConBtitutioD sent to him.

TABUDA. 3G8

his elevation to the parliamentary chamber and the
press of the opposition party, and he would never have
destroyed the powers which had defeated the former
presidency ; but all were overthrown when tlie ^ucho
of tlie pamjKis came into power, who understood little,
and cared less for liberty and individual rights. It
was his way to accomplish his ends by cutting men's
throats ; and on this principle the Republic is now gov-
erned,

Tiie 1st of December, 1828, and the fetal victory of
Nai'arro, taught the Caudillos their own power, and
one and all prepared for the struggle — the Aldaos in
Mendo^, and Facundo in the Llanos. A regiment of
auxiliaries was put in training at Mendoza under com-
mand of the monk-colonel, whose fame was not yet bo
great as that of his brothers. As soldiers of tlie War of
Independence, they knew what discipline can accom-
plish, and the auxiharies, thoroughly equi|)f)ed and
ti-ained, occupied the right wing in the famous battle
of Tahlada, in which eight hundred veterans of the
national army, commanded by the able General Paz,
loft three thousand enemies dead, after a two days'
light. Of the regiment of auxiliaries, sixty-five sur-
vived, with their colonel, who was wounded in the side.

While this monk-colonel was confined at San Luis,
by his wound, he amused himself by reading atheisti-
cal books, — an apparently insignificant fact, yet it
would seem to prove that there was a struggle still
going on in his conscience, of which be would fain have
relieved himself. Quiroga, after the defeat, fled to the
Llanos ; Aldao naturall3' went back to his brothers.
But many changes had taken place in his absence ; a

254 LIFE IX THE ARGENTINE REPUBLIC.

division from San Juan tnardiing to Cordova, revolted
on tlie way, and joined the Unitarios, who were san-
guine of success, but unskilled in the art of war. The
two Aldaos then at Mendoza, pursued them, and after
a few marches and conniermarches, conquered them
without tiring a shot.

On reluming to Mendoza, the victorious troops,
hearing of the \-ictory nt Tahlada, revolted and tlirew
tile power into tlie hands of the liberal party, which
showed no more prudence than it had done at San
Juan. These mistaken men pei'sisted in immediately
establishing their long-desired constitutional forms, re-
spect for hfe being their great maxim, and parliament-
ary discussion their means of action. Their enemies
took advantage of this infatuation to ridicule them, and
to endeavor again to overthrow their plans, while a
magnificent system of government was maturing under
the direction of General Aibarado,

The brothel's Jos^ and Francisco were planning
within their prison walls their reeatablishment in powerj;
while the monk presented himself in the neighborhood,
and with sixty men and the use of skillful intrigues,
opened a campaign against a government dependent
upon a fanatical people, two thousand men undiT arms,
and a man of reputation at its head. The prisoners
soon escaped, and the discussion of terms of conciliation
by the feeble government, gave time and resources to
the Aidaos. The die was cast, and the fate of Mendoza
was decided. A month was sufficient for the army to
be hemmed in, and even fired upon in the streets.

Facundo Quiroga sent several hundred gauchos from
Rioja to aid the three colonels of Mendoza, who had

EL PILAR.

255

assembled a considerable number of mountaineers. The
{rovemiiient troops were exasperated at tlie inactivity
in wbich tiiey were kept by Albarado, and rebelled,
insisting upon being led to battle. Finally the very
sufferings of those who bad felt the power of the Al-
daos aroused them, and tbey went out to seek their
enemies. In " el Pilar," of sad memory, tbey found
themselves surrounded, not having taken a good posi-
tion. In the evening twenty thousand shots were fired,
and a hundred cannonades were discharged by the
surrounded troops, and the next day tlie firing contin-
iied until twelve o'clock, yet tbey bad not made their
way out. The Aldaos knew that the ammunition was
exhausted, and entrenched their men behind breast-
works. Messages from Quiroga urged tbem to make
no treaty, and to promise nothing. " We must," said
he, " have as many enemies as possible to extort money
from." But the people of Mendoza, hearing the inces-
sant firing for two days, tliought that bj- this time few
survivors could remain, and the bereaved women ran
through the streets entreating the priests and other
influential persons to separate the combatants. A
committee of priests approached the battle-field, se-
lected neutral ground for a treaty, and it was agreed
that all should submit to a government chosen by the
people. The Aldaos must have iauglied at the sim-
plicity of their enemies, who were already conquered
and prisoners, and yet maintained the proud bearing
of free citizens. But Providence did not permit tlie
farce to be enacted to the end, for it was to finish with
a tragedy which filled even the actors with horror.
It was about half-past three in the ailernoon when

2.5tJ LIFE IN THE ABGENTINE REPDBLIC.

the treaty was completed ; the soldiers stacked their
arms, officei-a collected in groups congratulating them-
selves upon getting out of the difBcnlty so easily.
Francisco Aldao came into the enemy's camp, where
ha was coi-dially received, and in the lively conversa-
tion whicli arose, many a jest was exchanged by men
who had ibrnierly been friends. At this moment an
emissarj- from the monk presented himself, and de-
manded unconditional surrender, under pain of death.
Cries of indignation burst from all sides, and Francisco
was loaded with the most bitter reproaches, but he said
with quiet dignity, " Sirs, there is nothing in all this ;
Felix has just dined, that is all." And he repeated
these words with a peculiar emphasis, at the same time
sending an aide to inform Felix that he was there, and
that the slightest manifestation on his part would be a
violation of the treaty.

The alarm spread rapidly, however, the cry of trea-
son arose throughout the camp, and the officers were
in vain calling upon the men to form, when six cannon
balls were fired directly into the group in the midst of
which Francisco Aldao stood. If the cannonade had
been a moment later, Jos4 Aldao also would have been
there, for he was just on the point of starting, when he
was Huqjrised by the discharge, and exclaimed, " That
is the work of Felix, — he is drunk I " This was bnt
too true, the monk was intoxicated, according to his
usual afternoon custom ; only a few days before they
had been obliged to keep him in bed to save him from
some gaucbo enemies while in this condition.

Confusion jircvailed everywhere, and reached its
height at the approach of the Auxiliaries of Don Felix,

PILAB. 257

and the Blues from San Juan. A moment after the
monk himself came into t!i<j camp, and seeing a dead
body lying upon a cannon wrapped in a cloak, a vague
presentiment induced him to command the face to be
uncovered ; even then the fumes of the wine prevented
him from recognizing it, and bis attendants tried to
make him withdraw, beibre he should perceive that it
was his brother ; hut he again demanded sternly,
"Who is it?" At the same instant he recognized
Francisco, and struck bis head violently with his fist,
as if awakening out of a dream. Woe to the con-
quered I The carnage commenced, and be cried with
a hoarse voice to bis men, " Slay ! slay them ! " while
he killed the defenseless prisoners about him. The
officers were all cut down or left wounded and muti-
lated, without arms, without hands. Day closed before
tlie butchery ceased, and the troops returned to the
city, but every shot which broke the silence of the
night, announced an assassination or the breaking open
of some door. When the following day dawned, the
pillage was still going on, and the sunlight revealed
the outrages of the night.

The actors in this frightful tragedy were themselves
stnnned with the horror of their own work, and the
monk became aware of all that he had done, and the
death of his brother whom be bad sacrificed. But he
was not a man to show his remorse, and if he felt any
he sought to stifle it by delivering himself up to intoxi-
cation and still further outrages. Thus the evil pro-
pensities which had been for a time under restraint,
broke forth again ; and revenge for his brother's death
was an excuae for every excess. He had caused all

258 LIFE m THE ARGENTINE EEPDBLIC.

the officers to be put to dealli on that uncontested bat-
tle-field ; the next day lie ordered the execution of all
the sergeants, and on the next the corporals. Every
time he became intoxicated ills thirst for blood returned
with redoubled fury, and there are still persons alive
who heard him give orders for various assassinations,
with minute directions as to the manner in which they
were to be accomplished ; that at such a spot, at such
an hour, the legs of a certain victim were to be cut o£F;
in another case the tongue was to be cut out, and in
another the face was to be so mutilated as not to be
recognized. Such deeds of barbarity were then un-
heard of and surpassed all imagination, but now they
are common enough, and Buenos Ayres, Tucuman,
Cordova, and Mendoza, have become familiar with still
greater atrocities. Terror bad then paralyzed the peo-
ple, and when Quiroga arrived, he found it easy to
obtain all the money he desired. There is still in ex-
istence an order which he drew upon the government
for the payment of his gaming debts ; for wherever he
went the silence imposed by the terror of his name was
only disturbed by rumors of punishments and execu-
tions ibr the purpose of obtaining means to carry on
his games at the card-table. Mcndoza remained under
this evil influence, and a large army was prepared to
resist General Paz.

During the monk's rage for blood, his wife or mis-
tress saved the lives of many victims. His brother
Jos6, more considerate and more humane than himself,
also tried to appease his fury, but with each evening
came intoxication and unpremeditated outrages. From
this time Aldao lived in a state of continual alarm, em-

ALDAO AND FACDNDO. 259

bittered by that horror of himself which was the only
panishment he received in this world ; for while his
less criminal brother Jos4 was assassinated, he died a
natural death, feared and obeyed to the last. But
Providence works in secret and he will surely meet
his deserts.

A new army commenced another campaign against
General Paz. Aldao had filled up the vacancies in his
company of auxiliaries, and Facundo had gathered an
undisciplined crowd of four or five thousand men.
Aldao was accompanied by Don Jos^ Santos Ortiz,
who was intrusted with the mission of trying to induce
Quiroga to join with Paz in carrying on the war with
Buenos Ayres, and it seems that Quiroga came near
accepting the proposition. Paz on his part sent Major
Pawnero,' a young man whose intelligence equaled his
bravery, to make proposals of peace to Quiroga. But
Quiroga's pride urged him to wipe out the moilitica-
tion of his defeat at Tablado. The battle of Laguna
Larga taught Quiroga that his heavy cavalry chaises
could not be always relied upon; a simple maneuver of
the infantry on tlie other side decided the victory, and
Quiroga fled to Buenos Ayres, leaving on the field his
infantry, artillery, and baggage. During the pursuit
of the fugitives, a stout man whose weight had ex-
hausted his horse, was overtaken and thrown down by
a lance. A soldier was about to make an end of him,
when he cried, " Do not kill me, it is unportant to the
nation that I should be taken ahve to General Paz. I
am General Aldao."

An ofiicer took charge of him as far as Cordova,
I Now etiididate for iha Vice-PmidcDCj' oT tlM Btpnblie, 1S6B. (Ed.)

260 LIFE IN THE ARGENTINE REPUBLIC.

wliere a humiliating reception awaitsd him. Some
officers from Mendoza, caiTied away by their desire
for revenge, made him enter the town mounted upon a
wretched animal, exposed to the insults of the people.
" Wretch I " they shouted, " thou hast brought de-
struction upon thy country ! " " I have also brought
it much glory," replied the prisoner, with dignity, for
the insults of Ins enemies had restored all his courage.
He was then carried to prison, where he might reflect
upon Iiis past deeds in silence and solitude, and the
retrospection became so intolerable that he excited the
contempt of his jailers by his terror and childish exhib-
itions of alarm. He implored every one who came
near him to tell him if anything was said about his
death, and the ordinary noises about the prison filled
him with fears, until at last he could no longer sleep
at night, and never ceased his suspicious watch upon
his jailers. Some priests undertook to reconcile him
with t\iii church, and whether through fear, or real
rejwntance, he eagerly acceded to their propositions.
One day while listening to Don Jos6 Santos Ortiz, he
happened to look at a sentinel before his door, who
knowing the terror he was constantly in, maliciously
passed his hand across his own throat witii a significant
motion, and Akiao throwing the breviary from him,
cried, " They will kill me to-day ! they wdl kill me I "
His companion tried in vain to tranquillize him, by
representing that he would have to be tried and legally
condemned before he could be executed ; he only be-
came the more agitated, saying, " Ah, you have not
done what I have done ! " The soldier who had been
famous for his bold, reckless audacity, did not dare to

PETITION OF MENDOZA. 261

loolt death in the face, and showed the cowardice of a
child.

In the mean time the people of Mendoza had again
thrown off the yoke of the tyrants. Don Jose Aldao,
un fortunately for himself, conceived the idea of escap-
ing to the south, and trusting in the faith of the In-
dians; but the perfidious savages, having inviied him
and all his principal officers to a consultation, surrounded
them ; and though Don Jose succeeded in killing tlieir
chief, he and his friends, to the number of thirty, were
all slain.

The yieople of Mendoza whom the monk Aldao had
so terribly wronged, petitioned General Paz to deliver
him up to them — and I mean the people in the larg-
est sense of the word, for all had suffered by him more
or less, and the craving for revenge seemed to be a
disease which seized upon the whole communily. No
punishment could be invented severe enough for him ;
but at least a gallows should be erected for him in the
field of Pilar, and it should be high enough for all the
city to see him expire in the midst of their execrations.
One committee after another was sent to Cordova to
press their claim to the prisoner, as one connected in a
peculiar manner with Mendoza, but General Paz M'as
deaf to all these entreaties, and for the time there was
stili a chance that Aldao might some day escape from
his prison.

The war recommenced about this time, and an
accident which only an Argentine can understand,
took General Paz from the head of his army. Having
drawn up his men in a close column, he rode forward
to a small eminence to reconnoitre, when, seeing a

262 LIFE IN THE AKGE!(TniK BEPUBLIC.

company of mountaineers coming ont of the woods
hard by, he supposed them to be some of liis own troops
whom he had disguised as gauchos, and commanded an
aide to go and give them the necessary orders. The
aide obeyed unwillingly, being somewhat suspicious of
the new comers, and as lie neared them was instantly
shot, while at the same moment Paz was caught in a
lasso, thrown from his horse, and was instantly in the
hands of his enemies. The array, deprived of the com-
mander whose presence always insured victory, re-
treated to Tucuman, and sent into the city for the
prisoners.

A squadron of cuirassiers had formed in the square
at Cordova, in front of the slate-prisons, from one of
whicii came frightful groans, breaking t!ie silence of the
night, and exciting the compassion even of tlie oldest
veterans. The prisoner of Laguna Larga, the soldier
of the War of Independence, was on his knees, under
the influence of unmanly fear, groaning and sobbing
in the belief that these nocturnal preparations were for
his death ; tiie officer who went in search of him found
him with a wafer, which he had consecrated, and held
in both hands as a protection against his executioners.
The prisoner, in his hour of need, had resumed his
priestly offices, and the theologians of the university
of Cordova had a long discussion upon the efficacy of
the consecration of the wafer as performed by him.
Being quieted with much difficulty, the miserable man
followed the army to Tucuman, and after the defeat at
Ciudadeia, he accompanied the fugitives to Bolivia,
where they set him at liberty. Here ends one of the
most eventful periods in the life of Don Felix, the only
one of the trio then alive.

CAED-PLATING. 263

The battle of Ciudadela left the Republic once more
at peace after the long previous strnggle. Tlie men
wLo had been in favor of confederation had triumphed
everywhere, from Buenos Ayres to Tucumaii, and were
now about to establish their form of government and
to reconstruct the Republic. But instead of this, Fa-
cundo established a card-table in every city he visited;
and with six hundred thousand dollars obtained by the
year's conquests, went to Buenos Ayres to become the
victim of another commander more astute than him-
self, who had delennined to dispose of any man in the
country who could in anyway be his rival. The same
indifference to the real interests of the people was man-
ifested everywhere, and this state of things continued
until 1840, though within the ten years Rosas estab-
lished his power over the caudilios of the interior, while
allowing them a nominal authority. The cities hoped
than Facundo would reconstruct the Repubiic — a vain
hope. Tlieyare now hoping that Rosas will be merci-
ful to them if be succeeds in getting rid of his enemies.

Don Felix returned to Mendoza in 183i, and on his
way through Rioja had an interview with Facundo, who
bad with him the noble Barcala. Aldao's first words
were, "When are you going to shoot that negro?"
Quiroga frowned and seemed ill-pleased ; in fact he
showed a haughty contempt for the monk, and wrote
to the officers at Mendoza not to admit bim into the
army. But when Aldao presented himself, his per-
sonal influence was still too strong to be resisted, and
the governor received him with oflersof assistance, and
bestowed upon him the title of commander-general of
the frontier. He accepted the office, demanding at the

264 LIFE IN THE ARGENTINE REPUBLIC.

same time that his salary should be paid from the date
of Iiis imprisonment at Tablado ; he was evidently de-
termined to secure for himself a comfortable and per-
manent establishment — the condition of the country
seeming to promise peace and quiet for the present.

He took up his quarters in one of the southern forts,
provided himself with a body-guard, and sent for a
coaree, ignorant woman, by the name of Dolores, with
whom he had become enamored in Rioja. Mendoza
had for some time witnessed the jealous rivalry of his
Lima mistress and this Dolores, and the latter being
iinally victorious, her rival went back to Chili, leaving
two illegitimate children. An unfortunate influence
for the people was this utter disregard of morality —
vice in its most repugnant forms, — an apostate priest,
unchaste women, illegitimate children, whose illegal
birth was also sacreligious. Aldao omitted no cares for
his personal safetj', and his body-guard never left him
for a moment, not even when he sat at the card-table ;
and the fort from hall to cellar was one constant scene
of dissipation. Excitement becauie more and more
necessary to him, and when he visited the city he
ordered preparations for card playing as if it were a
regular part of public aEFairs, It is impossible to give
an idea of the degradation into which this man had
fallen, his debasing pleasures and entire forgetfulness
of business. It is true that neither the Aldaos nor
Quiroga ever really governed ; they left to others the
labors of the administration, while they reserved for
themselves all the power.

Don Felix now governed Mendoza, through nominal
governors who dared not displease him in anything;

and his most casnal remark uttered in liis own fort, was
enough to affect the government, and often became an
absolute law. And tliis lasted for ten years, until con-
stant intoxication brought his life to an eml.

In 1832, Rosas prepared an expedition to the south,
and invited the caudillos of the interior to cooperate
with him for the protection of their respective frontiers,
hoping by this means to make the pretext of an attack
on the Indians cover an extensive military combination
which he meant to use for his own elevation to power.
Don Felix induced one tribe to attack anotlier tribe,
and deliver them prisoners to his troops ; both tribes,
however, united while on the way, and after putting to
death sixty of the Mendoza soldiers, fled to the desert.
Aldao followed and exterminated them, and this was
all that was accomplished by the famous expedition ;
but Aldao made by it a valuable acquisition. Among
the soldiers of his division was one Rodriguez, a man of
great bravery, whom he took under his especial pro-
tection, and promoted to the command of a squadron.
The monk was then becoming stout, incapable of ac-
tion, and given up to intoxication, so that he would
have been unable to sustain Ills power and reputation
but for this Rodriguez, who, by proxy, still maintained
the terror of his name.

Rosas having obtained absolute power in 1833, care-
fiilly studied the capacities of the various caudillos of
the interior, that he might quietly bring them under
submission ; and this conquest of the provinces is one
of the greatest acts of diplomacy accomplished by him.
Soon afterwards he won over the auxlharies of San
Juan j had Quiroga put to death ; got rid of his own

266 LIFE IN THE ARGENTINE REPUBLIC.

tools, the Reinaf^s ; deposed Cullen, of Santa F4, and
th.'n had him siiot ; and made Benavides governor of
San Juan in piace of Yanzon. Earcala, the virtuous
Bareala, was shot by the monk, who was now in the
pay of Rosas. Brizuela, of Rioja, unrivaled for liis bru-
tahty, was kept in command, notwithstanding the zeal
of Benavides, his neighbor, Ibarra had quietly gov-
erned Santiago del Estero for eighteen years. In short,
everything was arranged for the decHne of the Repub-
lic into barbarism, when the despotic power of Rosas
would he confirmed. Unfortunately there was no
connected plan of resistance, no union, no leaders.
Rosas had forbidden tlie passage of couriers throughout
the interior, and the general want of confidence made
any agreement between the cities impossible. The
rebellion broke out, and the provinces joined Jn it one
after another, hut in the end were all forced to yield,
paralyzed by the horrors of unheard-of outrages. Never
was a revolution more universal or more ineffectual.
Rosas would have lost his cause but for the weakness
of his enemies.

Aldao together with Benavides now started on a
campaign against Brizuela, who, unfortunately for the
honor of their cause, had joined the patriots. It is
hardly to be believed that a man in his position should
make such a brute of himself as to remain intoxicated
for six months at a time, without once seeing the light
of day, or being for a moment in condition to receive
the ambassadors from the different governors, or even
Lavalle himself, who waited several days in vain for
an audience. And Aldao behaved in the same way at
San Luis, only not quite to the same extent.

ACHA. 267

The appearance of a small force commanded by the
brave young Alvai-ez, caused the division of Benavides
to disperse ; while the monk retreated, and by a rapid
march reached Mt-ndoza in time to put down the re-
bellion of the 4th of November, Tlie people looked
for nothing else than a repetition of the slaughter of
1829, but Aldao contented himself with some persecu-
tion and imposition of taxes. His rage for shedding
blood seemed to have ceased, and from this time no
such wholesale murders would have taken place in
Mendoza but for his disciples, who bad profited but too
well by his former example.

Aldao again joined Benavides, and with him con-
quered Brizuela, both of them then taking up quarters
in Rioja, in order to intercept the army under Madrid,
which was approaching from the north.

One day the news came to San Juan that a division
from Tucuman was near at hand, and eight hundred
men went out to meet them, but were repulsed. Then
Acha, the immortal Acha, went with a handful of men
to meet the united forces of Benavides, Aldao, and
Lucero, amounting in all to twenty-five hundred men,
with four pieces of artillery ; and this battle of Angaco
is the one glorious event amidst the errors, failures,
and defeats of that period.

Acha's men were only about four hundred, little
disciplined, and unacquainted with the country, but to
make up for these disadvantages, he had with him a
number of truly patriotic young men of high standing
in the army, and their enthusiasm gave to the little
company the slrengtli of double their number. As the
troops of the enemy quietly took theii- position, Acha

268 LIFE IN THE ARGENTINE REPUBLIC.

stood playing with a little switch, and yr'ith a sniile
which was habitual with Iiim, pointed to the enemy
and cried, "Rascals! now for real work!" The
battle commenced, and a deadly firing was kept ap
for five long hours, the infantry of Benavidcs being
within three yards of Acha's company ; for Aldao had
fled, leaving his companion to take care of himself.
The young Alvarez, who was seriously wounded early
in the contest, left a vacancy which could not be filled ;
and presently, when the men became discouraged and
wavered in their resistance, he had his wound hastily
bandaged and returned to his place, animating his
aoldiera by his eager enthusiasm, till they rushed again
into the fight with redoubled ardor. As evening came
on, all order seemed lost, and each man fought on his
own account ; little groups of cavalry, of ten, twelve,
or twenty men, charged upon the enemy from all
directions, and at last when the noise lessened some-
what, and the smoke of the powder cleared away, Acha
found, not without some surprise, that he had won the
day. With his usual smile, be congratulated his weary
soldiers, saying, " Did I not say there would be some
work worth seeing?" It is a pity that this remarkable
man should have somewhat lessened his reputation by
a foolisli carelessness, which at last cost him his life.
On the other hand, Benavides gained his reputation by
an act of bravery which would have done honor to any
general in the array.

The victory of Angaco might have been the means
of saving the Republic, had Acha done justice to the
bravery and self-possession of his enemy. Benavides,
thus conquered by a handful of men, returned to San

RODEO DEL MEDIO. 269

Juan without showing the least discouragement, though
his best officers had fallen, and all his stores were at
the mercy of his victorious rival. He was retreating
without haste to Mendoza, when he met a small rein-
forcement, and with this aid, little as it was, he con-
ceived the possibihty of a triumph, and determined to
take immediate advantage of circumstances. Hastily
returning, therefore, he attacked his unsuspecting con-
querors, and after three days of vain resistance, took
Acha himself prisoner, thus recovering all that he Lad
lost, and winning as great renown as the battle of
Angaco had given to his prisoner. When Madrid had
been deprived of his vanguard, of the recruits which
San Juan might have furnished, and of the chivalrous
Acha, — a host within himself, — it was easy to strength-
en the forces of Rosas under command of Pacheco. The
battle of Rodeo del Medio was a corollary of the tri-
umph at San Juan, and entirely owing to Benavides.

As to Atdao, his cowardly flight from the field of
Angaco, had placed him in a humiliating position ; all
his former mihtary fame seemed to have been trans-
ferred to Benavides, and in his own province he was
regarded with open contempt. He made a journey to
Buenos Ayres for the purpose of complaining to his
master, and was rewarded by a magnificent reception.
But this was followed by no attention from Rosas ; he
waited many months without obtaining an interview,
and was then obliged to return to his own territory,
which the army of Rosas had in the meantime despoiled
of all implements of war. Henceforth Aldao had no
other power than that obtained through Rodriguez and
his band ; this, however, was enough to enable him to

270 LIFE m THE ABGENTIKE BEPUBLIC.

rule Mendoza, which had learned byyears of oppression
to submit to him. Rosas had placed all real power in
the hands of Benavides, whose prudence as well as
bravery enabled liiin to keep it. The rivalry between
these two commanders was encouraged by Rosas, as it
insured his own safety.

Here ends the public career of Don Felix Aldao
the rest of liis life was only (lie gradual decay of a
constitution broken by dissipation and the hardships of
war, and to the end he was pursued by tlie scourge of
his own conscience and the maledictions of the peoph

His harem had been increased by the acquisition of
new mistresses ; and the immoi'alities and scandal
his private life formed the common topic of conversa-
tion, where the shameful rivalry of these degraded
women was openly exposed ; and they not only taunted
each other with their degradation, but laid violent bands
on one another in the streets. And this state of things
was tlie more abominable because the administration
of the government was affected by it. Neither justice
nor safely even was to be expected for those who
should happen to offend the reigning favorite of the
monk, and it was quickly known when a change of
dynasty bad taken place in the seraglio. Ladies of the
first families suffered outrageous punishments for not
treating these women with respect. One young girl
was seated on a mule and whipped through the streets
for speaking slightingly of one of the mistresses ; and
the principal inliabitants of Mendoza were compelled
to meet them at a ball, where the young men strove
for the honor of dancing with the coarse creature Do-
lores, who was the favorite at that time. On the deatli

ALDAO-3 HAREU. 271

of one rtf the illegitimate children, Montero, the chief
of'the police, made the anouncement publicly, inviting
tiie citizens to attend the funeral, and the principal men
of the place hore the coffin, which was richly decorated
and accompanied by the chief magistrates, who walked
before and behind it, while a military procession fol-
lowed.

When Acha and Benavides were fighting at San
Juan, Montero conducted Dolores to the barracks at
Mendoza, where she aided liim in arousing the enthu-
siasm of the troops destined to march, by siiowing them
Aldao's children, and calling upon them to support and
aid their general. What a loss this general was to
Rosas! Montero only could supply his place. Kosas
needed just such men to maintain quiet in the prov-
inces. All the governors had some peculiar <jualities
by which they served the ends of the man whose tools
they were. Brizuela was a sponge with vast capa«ity
for imbibing brandy, a sort of wine-bottle, who governed
admirably in Rioja. Some left the people to takeicare
of themselves while they got up cock-fights and races ;
othera shut up the government offices and passed
months witliout making a decree or using any admin-
istrative forms whatever ; others let things slide on
easily, tolerating everything, but an intelJigenl lawyer
or judge. They all involuntarily agreed upon one
point, the gradual disappearance of the public roads.
Highwaymen became numerous, schools were closed,
trade languished, the administration of justice was
given up to stupid or ignorant men, the press was filled
with nothing but fulsome praises of the " Restorator ; "
manners were fast declining towards barbarism, learn--

272 LIFE IN TH£ ABGENTINE BEPDBLIC.

ing was despised, talent persecuted, and ignorance be-
came a title to honor. And these governors did well
in acting thus if they desired to remain in favor, for
whoever showed any real capacity, or any interest in
promoting the public welfare, was soon put out of the
way. The Dictator had arisen to power through the
barbarism of the people ; and the poverty and ignorance
of the provinces secured him from all dangerous oppo-
sition, Tiie best governed of the cities scarcely per-
ceived the gradual decline, for despotism, even under
its most favorable circumstances, is for a people what
phthisis is for the body ; the patient feels no pain, eats,
sleeps, and enjoj-s himself without care ; it ia only the
physician who sees death surely approaching. Rosas
assumed for himself the care of thinking for all ; he
must be the head, and the governors of the provinces
the arms, hands, and feet, to execute bis will j each
member to be used, according to its capacity, for any-
thing but thought in behalf of the Republic ; the con-
struction of the government was to be his own work,

The life of Felix Aldao was now drawing to a close.
For a year before his death he was troubled with a
cancer on bis face, which eat into his nose and eyes,
until he became partially blind ; while the odor was so
offensive that his companions at the card-table could
hardly endure it. His temper did not improve with
sickness, and he became so suspicious of the physicians
who attended him that they were obliged to flee, feel-
ing that their lives were in danger. During this year
of illness no one dared to propose a ten^porary gov-
ernor, for tliose unlbrtunate people had come to believe
that the government belonged of right to the caudilios,

DEATH 01 ALDAO. 273

and tliat it would be treason to question their capabil-
ity, even when ill. Aldao governed Mendoza to the
last, and that without attending to anything but his
own health. As )iis death approached, he would not
remain alone for a. moment, tonnented as he was by
tiie terrors of his imapnation, and a number of the
citizens were obliged to take turns in watching with
him. One night he sprang from liis bed and rushed in
amoni: them with a pair of pistols in his liands. Tliey
without waiting to see that the wretched creature was a
prey to his own fears, and not attacking tliera, fled out
of tlie house and the town, and could willi ditKcnIty be
induced to return the next day. And these were the
citizens of the Argentine Republic whp had ottended
other states by their an-ojrant pride ! These were the
people who liad in-itatcil Bolivar by their overbearing
manners ! And now tliey stumbled over one another
in their liaste to run away from a sick monk !

At length, after months of acute sntFering, the can-
cer caused the bursting of a vein, and the hemorrhage
continued until he expired on the ISth of January —
in retribution perhaps for tlie blood nf the |>eople which
had flowed without stint at his command. Some say
that lie went back to the church and died penitent,
leaving a large part of his wealth to the Dominican
order, to which he had belonged. According to the
obituary notices he made Rosas his testamentary exec-
utor; as the Roman proconsuls, dying in the provinces
of the empire, used to leave .tlieir wealth to the em-
peror, together with the government of the provinces.
These two contradictory statements prove at least one
thing, that at his death there was still a question whether

274 LIFE IN THE ARGENTINE BEPCBl-IC.

he was a monk or a general, but that matters little to
liim now. With the money acquired by oppressing
the [)eople of Mendoza, he left a liome for each of his
three families.

With BO much that was bad, this man must have had
some ^ood (jualities, for he had friends whose affection
was never weakened by absence or death, and no one
wlio inspired such devotion could be wholly bad. He
was also beloved by his soldiers, many of whom re-
mained wilh him for years. He was in the habit of
sending large supplies of grain to the poor people south
of Mendoza; and whenever be learned of the arrival
of the Chilian families who frequently emigrated to
Mendoza, he supplied them with provisions until they
could establish themselves. And, lastly, those who
saw him intimately, say that he was extravagantly
fond of his children, whose caresses were his greatest
pleasure.

The family of Aldao is now represented by the
acknowledged children of three women, some other
natural children, and the legitimate ofi'spring of his
brother Don Jos(3. All the Aldaos bad met with a
tragic end, though that of Felix was the least so. All
Mendoza followed his body to the cliurch within which
he was buried. That evening the Almeda was crowded
with persons of both sexes; until then, this promenade,
the scene of much bloodshed wiion Pacheco was there,
had been entirely unfrequented.

The only benefit which Mendoza received during
the rule of this governor, was the settlement of its
southern frontier by emigrants li-om Chili, who col-
lected in villages under the protection of the fort of

CONCLUSION.

275

Srii Carlos, tlie habitation of Aldao, who always en-
couraged this emigration,

Mendoza is now without a governor ; it remains to
be seen wlio will obtain possession of it. When Rosas
heard that the monk was about to die, he sent a sister
of his with her husband, who was physician and also
secretary for Aldao. After his deatli, when the choice
of a new governor was discusstd, Rodriguez was in
favor of the secretary, but the people preferred a native
of the city.

I have now concluded mv self-imposed task, with
the fear of not having been sufficiently impartial ; yet
it is my misfortune if the facts are not strictly correct.
I have carefully consulted both his friends and ene-
mies, and the old soldiers who were with him at the
beginning of his career. I have thrown aside all that
seemed doubtful, and endeavored to moderate every-
thing that was exaggerated. For the rest, the life of
such a man, who took part in so many political changes,
should be brought before the public by a more power-
ful pen than mine. The biography of these tools of a
ruler, shows what means he employs, and tiie end at
which he aims.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.

Don DoMisGO F. Sarmif-xto was bom in 1811, tlie
year after the Argentine Republic had achieved its
independence of Spain, at San Juan, tlie capital of the
province of that name, lying on the eastern skirts of
the Andes. He was descended from two distinguished
fiimilJes that fignred in the colonization, the Sarmien-
tosand the Alharracines. Tlie latter were descended
from a Saracen chief, Al Ben Rn^jn, who, in the mid-
dle of the twelfth century, conquered and gave name
to a city-, and founded a family which afterwards be-
came Christian.

In 1846, Colonel Sarmicnf o went to see Arab life in
the interior of Algiers ; he found his family name fa-
miliar to the ears of the people, and was himself taken
for an Arab, and told that he could easily be mistaken
for one of the faithftil. He was so ambitious as to
emulate them in the wearing of their national garment,
the bornoz ; and in the exhilaration of the ride into the
interior, tinder the Arab escort that the French com-
mander had furnished him with, boasted that he could
ride to the pyramids without halting. They took him
at his word, and though the pyramids were not the goal
sought, the feat nearly cost him his life ; but the vigor-
ous habits of his youth saved him. When ho found
himself in the tent of a Saracen chief, and looked about

GESEALOGY. ' 277

him to see tlie characteristic marks of Arab life, lie was
struck witli amazement to find himself in the midst of
surroundings so precisely like those of liis native wild
plains, that tlie conviction was brought forcibly home
to him, that the gauchos of South America and the
Arabs of Africa were one and the same j>eople. It
was a disheartening thought to him that he saw in
these peojile one explanation of the difficulty of civil-
izing the engrafVed population of those Spanish colo-
nies, of which they were evidently the fountain-head,
distilled through the Catholii-ism of Spain, and where,
though they had perhaps lost the tradition of their
origin, they had not lost the elements of vk-inertick,
and repulsiim to civifizing influences.

The Albarraciiies had the name of remarkable abil-
ities, which had been transmitted from generation to
generation, and in South America several distin-
guished writers were known among the Dominican
fnars that abounded in the family. Prelates and bish-
ops, historians and logical writers were of the number,
and they intermarried with a family of Oros, also of
remarkable intellectual ability. The Oros, cousins of
his mother, who were curates and friars of education,
always had open house and hearts for tiie young
Sanniento, and their society helped to cultivate the
faculties of the brilliant boy, in whom culminated the
power of literary expression that bad always marked
the family. One of these able men, Don Jose de Oro,
a clergyman, had much influence in the formation of
his character. He had been chuplKin of a regiment in
,San Martin's army.

After some patriotic eSbrts for his country in the

278 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.

wan against the Spaniards in Cliili, he had left societr
and retired to the moantainoos region of San Lois, where
his nephew, then a boy, followed him, and spent three
jears in the closest intellectoal and afikctionate inti-
macy, stadjring Latin, and listening to tlie historical
and literary reminiscences of the holy man, who fed
the active and open mind of the precocious boy with
precious principles and a good store of miscellaneous
knowledge. History and the polity of governments
grew to be the passion of the young Sarmiento's soul.
The appearance of Facundo Quiroga and his hordes
in his native i)ronnce and city had made a profound
impression upon him, and with the disastrous history
of the colonization and of the internal wars of his own
countrj' as a point of departure, and the influence of
his uncle's keen and viirorous intellect and free and
generous views, he was prepared for that remarkable
career which has separated him from the body of his
contemporaries in letters, in politics, in the consecration
of his life.

But I will not anticipate. Tlie earlier domestic his-
tory of his life was a still more remarkable preparation.

It is striking to see how great natures will mould even
the most adverse circumstances. One can conceive of
no circumstances more adverse to the growth of fine
character than the isolated, provincial life of a Spanish
colony, ruled by ecclesiastical domination, exercised
over an uneducated mass like the remote descendants
of Spaniards who have been cut off for two or three
generations from means of improvement, and even
from the knowledge of the world's progress. Yet here
we find noble natures ready to respond to noble teach-
ings.

RECOLLECTIONS OP A PROVIKCE. 279

Dofia Paula Albarracine was the dau^rliter of Don
Cornelio Albarracine, who once owned half the valley
of La Zonda, and troops of carts and mules, but died
after beinji bedridden for twelve years, leavinp to his
fifteen children an inheritance of poverty and various
portions of wild land. But I leave the son to describe
his o\vn mother.

PREFACE TO " THE EECOLLECTIOSS OF A PROVINCE."

" The following pages are purely confidential, addressed
to a hundred persons only, and dictated by personal con-
siderations.

" In a letter written to a friend of my childhood, in 1832.
I had the indiscretion to call Facundo Quiroga a bandit.
All Argentines, both in Europe and America, now agree
that it was a just epithet, but at that time my letter was
shown to a bad priest, who was President of a Chamber of
Representatives. It was read in full session, a sentence
was decreed against nie, and they had the i
put it into the hands of the offended one, who, i
than liis flatterers, insulted my mother, calling her oppro-
brious names, and assured her that he should kill me when
he pleased, and wherever 1 could be found. This event,
which made it forever impossible for me to return to my
country if God did not dispose events ditferently from what
nian purposed to do, wa-s repeated sixteen years later with
consequences apparently still more alarming. In May,
1843, I wrote anotber letter to an old benefactor, in which
I committed the indiscretion (for which I honor myself,)
of characterizing and judging the government of liosas,
according to the dictates of my conscience, and this letter,
like that of 1832. was sent to the very man upon whom the
judgment was pronounced. All my countrymen know what

280 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.

fii^wed. The government of Buenos Ajres published die
letten made a requisition for me upon the government of
Chill, and sent the diplomatic note and the letter with a
circular to the confederate governors. The governor of
Chili answered, Rosas replied, the circulars were repeated,
the answers of the governors of the interior were received ;
the system of giving publicity to all those meannesses
which disgrace the human race more than they can any
government, was continued, and apparently the farce will
go on without its being possible for any one to foresee the
denouement The presses of all the neighboring countries
have reproduced the publications of the government of
Buenos Ayres, and in those thirty or more official notes,
the name of D. F. Sarmiento has always been accompanied
with the epithets, ' infammu, wiclean, viUj savagey with va-
riations such as, ^ traitor, madman^ contemptible, arrogant*
etc. I am thus characterized by men who do not know
me, before people who hear my name for the first time.
The desire of every good man not to be despised, the as-
piration of a patriot to preserve the esteem of his fellow
citizens, have induced me to publish this little book, which
I abandon to its fate. It is difficult to speak of one's self,
one's own good qualities, without exciting contempt and
attracting criticism, sometimes with good reason ; but it is
more difficult to consent to dishonor, and to let even one*s
own modesty conspire to one's injury, and I have not hesi-
tated a moment which to choose between these opposite
extremes.**

THE HISTORY OF MY MOTHER.

" I feel an oppression of the heart when I approach the
facts I am now to record, j" The mother is to the man the
personification of Providence ; is the living earth to which
the heart clings as roots to the soil. 1 All who have written

" MY MOTHER,"

281

of llieir family, have spoken with tenderness of their
mother, St Augustine lauded his so highly, that the
Church placed her at his side upon the altars. Laniartine
has said so niueh of his mother in his ■ Confidences,' that
human nature has been enriched with one of the most
beautiful types of the mother known to history ; a mother
adorable in the beauty of her countenance, and endowed
with a heart which seems to be an unfathomable abyss of
goodness, love, and enthusiasm, to say nothing of gifts of
supreme intelligence which created the soul of Laniartine,
that lust offshoot of the old aristocratic society which was
transfigured under the maternal wing into ihe angel of
peace, destined to announce to unquiet Europe the advent
of the Republic.

" To the affections of the heart, there is no mother equal
lo the one who has presided over our own fate, but when
pages like Lamartine's have been read, all mothers do not
leave such an image sculptured upon the mind ; mine
however, God knows, is worthy the honors of apotlieosis,
and I should not have written these pages if tlie vigor of
her mind had not inspired me to vindicate myself against
the injustice of fate in these last years of her laborious life.

"My poor mother I On the night when I descended
from Vesuvius, the fever of the emotions 1 had felt during
the day gave me a horrible nightmare instead of the sleep
which my agitated Hmbs needed. The fianies of the vol-
cano, and the darkness of the obyss, mingled I know not
what of absurd in the terrified imagination, and on waking
from those distracting dreams, one idea alone possessed
me, tenacious and persistent as a real fact : my mother
was dead ! I wrote that night to my family ; a fortnight
after I bought a requiem mass in Rome, that the pensionists
of Santa Eosa. my pupils, might sing it in her honor; and
I made a vow, which 1 persevered in while 1 was under the

282 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.

influence of tliose sad inipressions, to present myself in my
country at some future (lay. and to say to Rosas and Bena-
vidcs. and all my enemies (hansmen), 'You have had a
mother : I come to honor the memory of mine : make a
pau-Se then in the bnitalities of your policy : profane not
an act of ftjini piety. Let me tell all men wlio this poor
mother was that no longer exists ; ' — and as God lives, 1
would have fulfilled it as I have fulfilled so many other
good vows, and as I n-ill fulfill many others that I lia\'e made.
Happily, I have her here at my side, and she instnicts
me in the events of other times unknown to me. forgotten
by all. At seventy-sis years of aj;e my mother has crossed
the Cordillera of the Andes to bid farewell to her son be-
fore descending to the tomb. This act alone may give an
idea of the moral energy of her character. Each family is
a poem, Lamartine bus said, and mine is a sad. a luminous,
and a useful one. like those distant paper lanterns of the
hamlets, which serve to point the way to those who go
astray in the fields.

" Sly mother preserves scarcely any traces of a severe
and modest beauty, at this advanced age. Her lofty stat-
ure, her pronounced and bony form, her prominent cheek-
bones, the sign of decision and energy, are all the features
of her exterior that deserve notice, unless it may be the
prominent inequalities of her brow, so unusual in her sei.
She knew how to read and write in her youth, but lost
this facility from disuse in her old age. Her intellect has
been little cultivated, and is destitute of all adornment, but
so penetrating, that after listening to a class in grammar
which 1 was instructing, while combing her fleeces of wool
in die evening, she resolved all the difficulties which had
puzzled her daughters, giving the definitions of nouns and
verbs, tenses, and other accidents of speech, with rare sa-
gacity and exactness. Apart from this, her soul, her con-

DDK JOSE CASTRO. 2S3

science were educated to a degree uf elevntioD which the
loftiest knowledge could not attain by itself. I have been
able to study tiiis rare nioral beauty, by seeing its opera-
tion in circumstances so difficult, so diverse, and so oft-
repeated, ivilhout ever belying itself or losing its freshness
and purity, or temporizing with circtinistances, which with
others would have sanctified tlie conceptions made so often
in daily life ; that here I would trace the genealogy of these
moral ideas which ncre the healthy atmosphere luy soul
breathed while it was unfolding its powers at die domestic
heart)].

"I firmly believe in the transmission of moral aptitude
through tlie organization. I believe in the infusion of the
spirit of one man, into the spirit of another, by means of
speecii and example. Thns'j ]>cn'erse mortals who rule
nations, infect the atmosphere with the breath of their
souls, and reproduce their own vices and defects. There
are nations who reveal the characters of those who rule
over them in all their acts; and the moral life of cultivated
and free nations, tlieir monuments and their instnietion.
preserve the maxims of great mnster-niinds, and would
not have arrived at their actual degree of perfection, if a
particle of the spirit of Christ, for example, had not been
introduced by teaching and preaching into each one of
them, improving their moral natures. I wished to know
then who had educated my mother, and from her conver-
sation, from citttions of the sayings of others, and from her
gener;il reminiscences, I have made out almost the whole
history of a man of God. whose memory lives in San Juan,
and whose doctrine is perpetuated more or less pure in
the hearts of our mothers.

"I am suspicious that this holy man knew his eighteenth
century, its Kosseau, its Feijoo,^ and its philosophers as

1 Feijoo, whoM nal name wia Benedict Jerooi, wu a SpaniBli Benedic-

284 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.

well as he did the Holy Scriptures. Don Jose Castro had
scarcely been named curate, when he wielded the lash of
his censure and prohibition upon all the brutal practices
of the Church, such as flagellations which inflamed the
back with merciless whips, fanatics hamesssed with bridles
who walked on four feet even penitent arm crossings on
Holy Week, and processions of the Saints, and mummeries
which made their grimaces before the Holy Sacrament He
used his Influence also to put to flight the belief in fairies,
ghosts, jack-o*-lanterns, and varioiLS creations of other
religious faiths interpolated into our own in all Christian
nations. To this end he used not only ridicule, but from
the cathedral made patient and scientiflc explanations of
the natural phenomena which gave rise to these errors.
His criticisms also upon the aflairs of life, and popular
criticisms made without that grossness of censure which is
common in ordinary preachers, worked so much more
salutary effects since they came accompanied by ridicule so
full of wit as to raise a general laugh in the church, he
himself laughing till his eyes would fill with tears, adding
new sallies, till the immense concourse of people, attracted
by the delicious mirth of .this coniedy, relieved their hearts
of every trace of ill-humor, and till the priest, having tran-
quilizcd all minds, would say, wiping his face, ' Come,
children, we have laughed enough ; now lend me your at-
tention. By the sign of the holy cross,' etc., and then came
the text of the lesson of the day, followed by a stream of
serene and placid light, moral, practical, easily-understood
commentaries, applicable to all the exigencies of life. . . .
My mother's religion is the most genuine version of the

tine monk, who attempted by his uritin^s and example to correct and
reform the vitiated relip^ion and superstitious notions of bis countrymen.
This unusual boldness against tlie prejudices of the tiroes proved very offen-
sive to the Church, and the author was with difficuhy saved from the horrors
of the Inquisition.

CHARACTERISTICS OF " SIT UOTnF.E," 285

religious idea of Don Jose Castro, and I will appeal to the
prnctiee of her whole life to explain that religious reform
founded in an obscure province, where it is preser\'cd in
many pririleged souls.

, , . " My mother hns few seasons of devotion, but
those she hns reveal the affinities of her mind to certain
illusions, if I may so express myself; for instance, to her
relation to the saints in heaven. The Virgin de Dolores is
her mother of God. St Joseph the carpenter, is her Holy
Patron Saint, and St. Domingo and St. Vincent Ferras,
Dotninican friars, bound by many lies to t\\e affections of
the family, her order of priesthood. God himself, through
all the vicissitudes of her anxious life, has been the true
Holy One of her devotion under the invocation of Provi-
dence. In this character God entered into all the acts of
that laborious life, and wns present every day seeing her
contest* with indigence, and witnessing her accomplish-
ment of her duties. Providence rescued her from all her
troubles by visible manifestations authenticated to her.
. . . Sometimes she would call the whole familv to-
gether, when she would give utterance to a supplication
full of unction and fen'or. a true prayer to God, the purest
emanntion of a soul which overflowed witli thanksgiving
for the smallest benefits vouchsafed to her ; for it must be
said, the Divine beneficence at as very scantily meted out
to her. I have n^ver seen this profound faith in Provi-
dence belie itself for one moment, but ever ward off
despair, moderate anxiety, and give to suffering and misery
the august character of n holy virtue, practiced with llie
resignation of a martyr, who does not protest, who does
not complain, but hopes always, feeling himself consciously
sustained, supported, approved. 1 know no more religious
soul, and yet I have seen no other Christian woman more
regardless of religious ceremonies.

256 BIOGRAPHICAI, SKF.TCEI.

" The curate Cnstra counseled the mothers nnt to com-
promise the decorum of their social pasition, by going in
shabby giiise into the street to attend mass, it beinj; proper
for a family to present itself always in public with that
apparel and decency required by its rank; and this pre-
cept my mother followed in her days of extreme poverty,
with the modesty and dignity that nlivays characterized her
actions. These lessons of profound wisdom were a small
part of that seed sown by the holy man. and fructified by
the common sense and the moral sentiment upon which it
ftll in the heart of my mother.

" When a woman of twenty-three years she undertook a
work not so much beyond her strength as beyond the usual
conceptions of an unmarried maiden. The year before,
there had been n great dearth of tmascotes, (a kind of wool-
en stuff that resembles serge, much used for the garments
of the religious orders.) and from the proceeds of her
wearing, my mother had amassed a small sum of money.
With that, and two peons of her aunts, the lrraz.1 vales, she
laid the foundations of the liouse she was to occupy on
forming a new family. As these scanty earnings were
hardly sufficient for so costly a work, she established her
loom under one of the tig -trees which she had inherited in
her portion of land, and from there, while throwing her
shuttle, she assisted the workmen and their peons in build-
ing the little dwelling ; sold the cloth she had made in the
week on .Saturdays, and paid tiie workmen with the fruit
of ber labor. In those times an industrious woman — and
all were so, even those horn and reared in opulence —
could depend upon herself to provide for her necessities.
Commerce had not pushed its products into the interior of
America, nor had European manufactures cheapened pro-
ductions then as now. A yard of unbleached linen cloth
was then worth eight reals for the first quality, five for the

■■ MY FATHER." 287

ordinary (juality. and four for a vard of anascote, [lie thread
being thrown in. My mother wove twelve yards per week,
wliich was the pattern for the dress of a friar, and received '
six dollars on Saturday, not without trespassing tipon the
night, to ml ihe quills with thread for the work of the fol-
lowing day. . . . The branches of industry carried on
by my mother are so numerous and so various, that their
enumeration would fatigue the memory with names which
now signify nothing. . .

" BIy family has preserved the reputation of industrial
omniscience until my day, and the habit of laboring with
her hands is an integral port of my mother's ext.stence.
We heard her exclaim at Aconcagua, in 1S42. 'This is
the first time in my life that I have sat down with folded
hands ! ' And at seventy-six years of her age, it has been
necessary, in order to prevent her falling into a decline, to
invent occupations adapted to her impaired vision, among
which are delicate handiwork for ornaments of lodtes'
dresses, and other superfluities.

" When her home was finished, she married Don Josd
Clemente Saniiiento. my father, a genteel young man of
a family which had fallen into decay like her own, and
brought to him as a dowry, the chain of privations and
mberies in which she passed long years of her life. My
father was a man endowed with a thousand good tjualities,
which balanced others that without being evil, looked in
another direction. Like mv mother, he had been educated
in the rude labors of that epoch, a workman on the pater-
nal farm of La Bebtda. a mule-driver in the carrier-trains.
He was beautiful in countenance, and with an irresistible
passion for the pleasures of youth, deficient in that me-
chanical constancy which makes fortunes. Inspii-ed by the
new ideas which had conie in with the Revolution, he had
an unconquerable hatred for material labor, unintellectu-

288 BIOGRAPHICAL SEETCil-

ally and rudely as he had been educated. I heard him
say lo the Presbyter Torres, speaking of me, ' O, no ! my
son shiill never take a Bpade in his hand ! ' And the edu-
cation he gave me showed that it was a fixed idea that had
its birth in his profoundly mistaken views of life. In the
bosom of poverty, he reared me an hidalgo^ and my hands
exercised no other forces than those required by uiy plays
and pastimes. Sly father had one hand made useless by
a callus he had acquired in labor.

" AVIien the Ilevoliition of Independence came, his ex-
citable imagination made him ivaste, in services lent to
bis country, the small acquisitions he had made. Alter
seeing in 1812 tlie miseries of Ilelgrano's army, he re-
turned to San Juan, and imdertook to make a collection
for the Mother Country-, as he n-as accustomed to call it,
which proved quite abundant, asd by the suggestion of
jealous enemies was denounced to the Municipality as an
act of spoliation. When the authorities inquired into the
subject, they were so well satisfied, that lie was charged
with carrying bis patriotic offering to the army in person,
and tliis event gave him ever after the sobriquet of
'Mother Country,' which, in his old age in Chili, was the
oriirin of a calumny designed to injure his son.

"In 1817, he accompanied San Martin to Chili as an
officer of militia in the mechanical service of the army,
and from the field of battle of Chacabuco, he wiis dis-
patched to San Juan to carry the plausible news ' of the
triumph of the patriots. San Martin remembered him
well in 18-17,^ and was much pleased to learn tliat I was
his son.

" With these antecedents, my father passed his whole
life in beginning speculations whose products were scat-
1 Tbia UKWf, truB >t the moment «pp«rently. proved to bs > f»U«cT.
* In 184T Colonel S4rinieiilo souijbt out Sua Blutin ia hia Fnnch r«-

THE FIESTA OF ST. PETER. 289 ■

tered in badly counseled moments. He worked with te-
nacity, and fell into discouragement ; he again essayed his
forces and struggled against every disadvantage, dissipating
his energies in long journeys to other provinces, till after
my arrival at manhood ; and from that time he followed the
fate of his son into camps, into banishment and emigration,
watching over me like a guardian angel to avert if possible
the dangers that threatened me.

" From this evil destiny of my father and the want of
a persistent plan of action, the maintenance of the family
fell, from the earliest period ailer marriage, upon the
shoulders of my mother, my father only aiding her fniitful
labors by occasional cooperation ; and under the pressure
of the want in which we were nurtured, I ever saw the
shining light of that equanimity of mind, of that resigna-
tion armed with all the industrial means which she pos-
sessed, and of that confidence in Providence which was
the best resource of her energetic soul against discourage-
ment and despair. Winters came which the pre\'ious au-
tumn had presaged would be scanty in the provision of tlie
roots and dried fruits which were to meet the expenses,
and like the pilot of an abandoned ship she prepared with
solemn trancjuillity to meet the storm. When the day of
destitution came, her soul had braced itself to resignation
by assiduous labor to meet the trial. She had wealthy re- ■
lations ; the parish curates were her brothers, but those
brothers were ignorant of her sufferings. It would have
derogated from tlie sanctity of the poverty which she
combated with her labor, to have mitigated it by foreign
intervention ; it would have been asking quarter in those
death-combats with her evil star.

" The fiesta of St. Peter was always celebrated by a
splendid banquet given by our uncle the curate, and he
knew the rights and the desire of the children of the

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.

family to participate in the festivities. Many times the
curate asked. 'Why did 1 not see Domingo?' And to this
day he supposes that it vis obedience to my mother's or-
ders, instead of poverty, which prevented our attendance.
" I must mention one more characteristic anecdote of my
mother. She had a friend of her infancy from whom
death separated her at the age of sixty. The two friends
had always continued to visit each other, consecrating one
whole day to titc delight of fusing their families into one,
and the same friendship has united the daughters of both.
Her friend enjoyed the bounties of wealth, but on the day
that my mother passed with her, our own servant went into
the friend's kitchen to prepare all the food which we were to
consume during the day, the protest of twenty years against
the practice having never in the least changed my mother's
firm and unalterable resolution, in order that the ineffable
pleasure of seeing her friend should not be marred by the
possible suspicion that she wished even for a day to lay
aside the duty of sustaining her family, or to turn her face
away from the inequalities of fortune. Thus was practised
at the bumble hearth of the family of which I made a part,
the noble virtue of poverty. Happy are tJie poor who have
had such a mother ! "

" THE PATERNAL HEARTH."
"My mother's house, the fruit of her industry, whose sun-
burnt bricks and mud-walis might be computed in yards of
linen, woven by her own hands to pay for its construction,
has received in the course of tlie last few years some addi-
tions which confound it with other dwellings of a certain
moderate rank. Its original form, however, is that to
which the poetrj- of the heart clings, the indelible image
which presents itself pertinaciously to my mind when I
remember infant pleasures and pastimes, the hours of

THE HOMESTEAD.

291

recreation after returning from school, the various places
where whole hours and weeks were passed in ineSnble
beatitude, making mud saints to be worshipped when com-
pleted ; or armies of soldiers of the same paste, to feed my
pride by the esercise of so much power.

"Towards tJie southern part of the little territory of thir-
ty jaids by forty, was the habitation of the family, divided
into two apartments, one serving as a dormitorj' for our
parents, and tlie lai^e one for the hall of reception, with its
lofly dais and cushions, remnant of the traditiou of the
Arab divan, preserved by the Spanish people. Two tables
of tlie indestructible carob-tree (algarroba), which had
passed down from hand to hand since the time when there
was no other wood in San Juan but the cnrob-trees of the
fields, and a few chairs of various structure, flanked the
hall, while two great pictures in oil of San Domingo and
San Vicente Ferrar, adorned t!ie otherwise bare walls ;
pictures shockingly painted, but most devoutly kept as
heir-looms on account of their Dominican hablL At a
short distance from the entrance door, the patriarchal fig-
tree raised its deep green canopy, which even in my child-
hood shaded my mother's loom, whose strokes, and the
noise of whose wheels, pedals, and simttles, always waked
us before sunrise, announcing that a new day had begun,
and with it the necessity of providing for its wauls by
labor. Some branches of the fig-tree rubbed gently against
the walls of the house, and heated by the reflection of the
sun's rays, it anticipated the usual season, oflering its mel-
low contribution of early figs to augment the rejoicing of
tlie family on the 23d of November, my father's birthday.
I linger with pleasure over these details, for saints and
fig-tree were, at a later day. personages of a family drama
in which colonial ideas struggled violently with more mod-
em ones. Other industrial resources had their place on

292 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.

the narrow territory of twenty yards not occupied by the
family mansion. Three orange-trees shed their fruit in
autumn, their shade nlways. Under a corpulent peach'
tree was a little poo! of water for the solace of three or
four geese, which multiplying;, gave their contribution to
the complicated and limited system of revenue, ugxin which
reposed the existence of the family ; and as all these means
were insufficient, there was a garden of esculents of the
size of a scapulary, surrounded by a paling, to shelter it
from tiie voracity of the goslings, and wbich produced such
vegetables as enter into South American cookery, the whole
sparkling and illuminated by groups of common flowers, a
mulberry-colored rose-bush, and various other flowering
shrubs. This was a sample of the exquisite economy of
land in a Spanish colonial family, and also of the inex-
haustible productions which the coimtry people of Europe
know how to extract from it The manure of the fowls and
the horse which my father rode, passed daily into lae, to
give new vigor to that little spot of land which never
wearied of yielding its varied and luxuriant growths, and
when I wished to suggest to luy mother some views of
rural economy culled from books, I was deservedly treated
as a pedant in the presence of that science of culture,
which was the favorite pleasure and occupation of her long
life. Now, at seventy-six years of age, if she escapes us
from within our dwelling, she is sure to be found j>ropping
up some drooping plants, responding to our objections
with the violence of feeling that possesses her on seeing
them so maltreated.

"Yet in that Noah's ark there was some little corner
where were steeped and prepared tlie colors with which
she dyed her webs, and a vnt of hran, from whence issued
every week a fair proportion of exquisitely white starch.
In prosperous times was added to these the manufacture of

HOME ISF1.CESCES. 293

candles made by the hand, some attempt at baking bread,
which always resulted in failure, and a thousand rural
operations, which it would be superfluous to cnunierate.
Such varied occupations were not witliout method, begin-
ning in the morning ivith feeding llie goslings, gathering the
vegetables before they were willed by the sun, and then
establishing herself at her loom, which for long years was
her chief occupation. 1 have in my possession the shuttle
of algarroba, polished and blackened by years, which she
had inherited from her moiher. who received it from her
grandmother, a humble relic of colonial life, embracing a
period of about two hundred years, during which noble
hands had thrown it almost tinweariedly ; and although one
of my sisters has inherited from my mother the habit and
the necessity of weaving, my covetousness has prevailed,
and I am still the depository of this family jewel. It is a
pity that I can never be rich and powerful enough to im-
itate that Persian king who continued to use the clay pot-
tery which had served him in childhood, in order that he
might not grow proud and despise poverty.

" Such was the domestic hearth near which I grew, and it
is impossible that there should not be left, on a loyal nature,
indelible impressions of morality, of industry, and of vir-
tue, received in that sublime school in which the most
laboriims industry, the purest morality, dignity maintained
in the midst of poverty, constancy, and resignation, divided
all the hours. My sisters enjoyed the deser\'ed reputation
of being the most diligent and efficient girls in the whole
province, and whatever feminine occupation required con-
Eiimmnte skill, was always commemled to these supreme
artificers who could do everything which required patience
and dexterity and ver^- little money."

To complete this picture the author brings into

294

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.

view two accessory personages, " La Toribia," a Zamba
domestic, " the key of the house, the right ami of her
mistress, the bonne who brought us all up, the cook,
the messenger, the huckstress, the washer and ironer,
the maid cf all work. She died young, nor was her
place ever filled, either in the domestic economy or in
the heart of my mother, for they were two friends,
mistress and maid, two fellow-laborers who discussed
together the means of maintaining the famih-, wrangled,
disputed, dissented, and each one then followed her
own opinion, hoth leading to the same end." The
other personage was " Na Cleme, the pauper that
hung upon the family, for my mother, like the Rigo-
leta of Sue, who never hoarded anything, had her
poor also, whom she helped to live by her scraps."
But the faniilv servant and the family pauper, sup-
posed by some to be a witch, and apparently of that
opinion herself, must be banished from our pages,
although the beneficent relations of the mother to them
add another trait to a noble portraiture.

" Our habitation remained as I have described it, until
the day when my two elder sisters arrived at the marriage-
able age, when an iulerior revolution began which cost two
years of debate, and showers of tears to my mother, on
finding herself conquered by a new world of ideas, habits,
and tastes, which were not those of the colonial existence,
of which she was the last and most finished type. The
first symptoms of those social revolutions operated by
human intelligence in the great foci of civilization are very
common and pass unperceived ; they extend through the
common people, insinuate themselves into ideas, and infil-
trate into thi^ customs. The eighteentli century had glittered

COLONIAL LIFE. 295

over France, and undermined the aocicnt traditions, cooled
off faith, and excited hatred and contempt for things
hitherto venerateil. Its political theories had overturned
governments, unbound Spanish America, and opened its
colonies to new customs and new habits of life. The time
was coming when the industrious life of American women
was to be looked upon disdainfully, and with an evil eye ;
when French fashions were to prevaii, and an anxiety for
display in the multij>li cation and distribution of luxuries
were to take possession of the domestic circle, when the
dining-hour must be delayed from twelve o'clock to two or
even four in the afternoon. Who does not know some of
those good old people of the ancient stamp, who live, proud
of their opulence, in an imencumbered apartment, fur-
nished with four dusty leather chairs, the floor covered
with spent cigars, and the table ornamented solely with an
enormous inkstand, whose goose-quills, or perchance, con-
dor-quills, are crystallized with dried ink. This was the
general aspect, the family picture of colonial life. It is
described in the novels of Scott and Dumas, and living
proofs of it are still seen in Spain and in South America,
the last of the old peoples who have been called upon to re-
juvenate themselves. These ideas of regeneration and per-
sonal improvement, this impiety of the eighteenth century,
entered, who would believe it, into the heads of my two
elder sisters. Scarcely airived at tlic age when woman
feels that her existence b bound to society, which is the
end and object of this existence, they began to aspire to
new ideas of beauty, of taste, of comfort, which the at-
mosphere diffused by the revolution had wafted to them.
The walls of the common sitting-room were smoothed and
whitened anew ; a thing to which no reasonable oppoiiition
could he offered, but the mania extended to the destruction
of the raised dais that occupied one side of the hall, with

296 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.

its carpet and its ctishions, a (livan ns I said belbre. which
came down to us from our Arabic ancestors, a privileged
spot on which women alone were permitted to sit, aud in
whose spacious circunifereni.-e. reclining upon ottomiuis,
the visitors and hosts carried on their lively chit-chat, that
indescribable medley of womanly talk.

" Why has the poetical dais been allowed to disappear
from our houses, so convenient for sitting, so adequate
for feminine repose, to substitute in its place, chairs, in
which one by one or in rows, like soldiers in platoons,
the eye reviews the company in our modern saloons ?
Hut tliat dais expressed that man might not publicly
approach the young ladies, talk freely, and mix freely
with them, as our modem customs permit, and it was
therefore repudiated by themselves, as easily as it had
been formerly accepted as a privilege. The dais then
yielded its place in the bouse to the more modern fashion
of chairs, notwithstanding the feeble resistance of my
mother, who enjoyed sitting npon one extreme of it in the
moruing to take her cup of mate, with her brazier and
boiler of water on the lower slep before her, or to reel ber
cottons or to fill her quills over night for the web of the
following day. Kot being accustomed to work upon a
high seat, she was obliged to adopt the use of a carpet to
supply the loss of tlie dais, which she lamented many long

" Jly sisters' spirit of innovation at last attacked sacred
objects. I protest that 1 did not take part in this sacrilege
which the poor little things committed, in obedience to the
spirit of the time. Tho.'ie tivo saints, so grand, so ancient,
Santo Domingo and San ■\'^icente Ferrar, decidedly marred
the walls. If my mother could but consent that they
should be taken down, and put into a sleeping-room, the
little house would take a new aspect of modern and ele-

WORKS OF ART. "297

gant refinement, for it was under the seducing form of,
good tftste. that this iconoclastic impiety of the eighteenth
century found its nay into tlie house. Ah, wliat wounds
that error dealt upon the bosom of Spanish America!
The South American Colonies had been founded at an
epoch when the Spanish fine arts showed proudly to
Europe the pencils of Murillo, Velasquez, and SauibraDO,
as well as the swords of the Duke of Alva, the great
captain, and of Cortez. The possession of Flanders
added to its products those of l-'lemish engraving, which,
painted in rough lineaments and crude colors the religious
scenes which were the foundation of the national poetry.
Murillo. in his early years, niade innumerable virgins and
saints for South America ; the second-rate painters sent it
whole lives of saints for the convents, the passion of Jesus
Christ in immense galleries of pictures, and Flemish en-
graving, as now French lithography, put within reach of
moderate fortunes the history of the Prodigal Son, and
virgins and saints of as many types as the calendar fur-
nishes. The walls of our ancestors' and fathers' apart-
ments were tapestried with these images, and not rarely
the practiced eye of an artist could discover some line of
a master-hand in the midst of all this rubbL-h. ]!ut the
revolution pijinted its Anger against the religious emblems.
Ignorant and blind in its antipathies, it averted its eyes
from paining which was Spanish, colonial, aucicnt, and
irreconcilable with the new ideas. Devout families hid
their pictures of the saints, not to show the bad taste of
preserving theni ; and in San Juan, and other places, there
were those who used the canvas for trowsers for their
slaves, "^'hat treasures of art must have been lost by
these stupid profanations iu which all South America was
an accomplice, for there was a period at which everywhere
at once prevailed the fatal demolition of that luxuriant

298 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.

vegetation of the past artistic glory of Spain I European
travellers, who passed through South America twenty j*ears
ago, collected at very low prices inestimable works of the
best masters, which tlicy found cast aside as useless lumber
covered with dust and cobwebs ; and when the day of the
resurrection of the arts came to South America, when the
bandage fell from the eyes of tbe people, the churches.
the rising museums, nnd the amateurs found from time to
time some picture of Murillo to expose to view, asking
pardon for the injustice of which it hnd been the ricdm,
now restored to public consideration, and to the lofty
position which corresponded to its merits.

" The strife went on, therefore, between nty poor mother,
who lo\'ed her two Dominican saints as members of her
family, and my young sisters who sacrificed the laws of
the house to good appearances and the prejudices of tlie
times. Every day. at all hours, under every pretext, the
debate was renewed, some threatening glance was cast at
the saints, as if to say, " you must leave your places
vacant : " while my mother contemplated them with tender
looks, exclaiming, " I'oor saints ! how badly they treat you
when you harm no one ! " Hut by this continuous battery,
the ear became accustomed to the reproach, resistance was
weaker every day. for if they were looked tipon as indis-
pensable objects of religion, it was not necessary that they
should be in the parlor; the sleeping apartment was a
much more appropriate place of worship, where their bless-
ing could be invoked upon tbe very bed. As a family
legacy, they were subject to the same arguments, while as
an ornament they were in the worst taste ; and from one
concession to another, my motlier's mind relented little by
little, and one morning when her resistance would go no
further than the wringing of her bands, when the guardian

THE SENTEKCE OF SAINTS AND FIG-TREE. 299

of that fortress returned from mass, her eyes expanded to
see the bare walls where the great black patches had been
before. My saints were then removed to the sleeping
apartment, and to judge by their faces the change made
no great impression upon them. My mother knelt weep-
ing before them to ask their pardon by her prayers,
remained out of humor and querulous all day. sad the
following day. but resigned the next, till at last time and
habit brought the balm which makes bearable the great«st
misfortunes. This signal rictory gave new animation to
the spirit of reform, and after the divan and the saints, in
an evil hour, the threatening glance fell upon the fig-tree
that stood in the middle of the court-yard, discolored and
knotty, by dint of dryness and old age. The matter being
looked upon in this aspect the fig-tree was condemned in
the public conception : it sinned against ail the rules of
decorum and decency : but with my mother it was an eco-
nomical question which affected her. as well as one which
deeply affected her heart. Ah ! would that the maturity
of my own heart could have been anticipated and brought
to her aid, but selfishness made me indifferent to her feel-
ings, or weakly inclined mc in her favor for the sake of
the early figs ! They wished to separate her from that
beloved companion in the flower of its life and strength.
Hipe s^e wreathes associations around everything which
surrounds us; the domestic hearth is a living being; a
tree which we have seen planted, grow, and arrive at
maturity, is a person endowed with life, which has acquired
rights to existence that it reads in our hearts, and con
accuse us as ingrates. and would leave remorse in the con-
science if we should sacrifice without a legitimate reason.
The sentence of the old fig-tree was discussed for two
years, and its champion, wearied with the struggle, aban-
doned it to its fate ; but on making the preparations for its

300 mOGSAPHICAL flOTCH.

cxccotioiiy the sentiiiieDts wliidi had been o ulr^e d m
boft, gkmed with new larce. and sbe obsdnatel j relbnd
to permit the destmction of that witness and oompankMiof
her laboTft. One daj. howerer, when the reTocation of the
pentmMon had lost all its prestige, the blows of the hatrfaft
upon the renermble trunk of the tree, and the mstlii^ of
the leaves shaken bj the shock, the last sighs of the Tictim,
were heard through the house. It was a sad. sad oxNnenty
a scene of moomiDg and repentance. The bkms of the
lig'Slajing hatchet ^ also shook the heart of my mother ;
the tears rushed to her eyes, as the sap of the tree to the
wound, and her sobs responded to the trembling of the
leaires. Krerj new blow broi^bt a new burst of grieC and
roj nster and 1, repenting too late for having given sodk
acute pain, burst into * weeping, the only reparation now
possible. The suspension of the worit of destruction was
ordered, as the family prepared to rush into the yard, and
put a stop to the painful re-percussions of the hatchet upon
my mother's heart Two hours afterwards, the fig-tree lay
prostrate upon the ground, displaying its hoary head as'
the fading leaves showed the knotty frame-work of that
structure, which for so many years had lent its aid to the
protection and sustenance of the family.

** After these great reforms, the humble habitation went
on slowly and painfully enlarging itself. It fell to me to
have the happiness of introducing one substantial change.
On the border of our little homestead spot was a piece of
grotmd my father had purchased in a moment of compara-
tive ease. I was an apprentice in a small commercial
establishment when sixteen years old. My first plans and
economies had for their object the fencing in of this Jot of
territory, that it might be made productive to the family,
and place it beyond the reach of indigence, although it

1 The Spooiflh word u higutridda^ the fig-i-cidal.

EARLY EDUCATIOX. 301

could not make it pass out of tlie limits of poverty. Jly
mother now lind at her disposal a theatre worthy of her
agriuultural knowledge ; to tlie decrepid fig-tree succeeded
in her affections a hundred young trees, whose growth her
maternal eye fostered. Hours of every day were conse-
crated to this plant and to that vine, upon which the family
was in future to depend, for a portion of its sustenance.

" When I had accomplished this work, I could say in my
joy at having produced such a result, / sam Oial it wm
good, and I was happy."

"MY EDUCATION.

" In a school, the details of which I have mentioned else-
where,* and where 1 entered at five years of age. 1 remained
nine years without having missed a single day, under any
pretext, for my mother was there to see tiiat I should fulfill
my duty of punctuality, under the penalty of her indescrib-
able' severity. At five years of age, I read fluently, in a
loud voice, with intonations and emphasis that only a com-
plete comprehension of the subject could give, and so un-
common was this early skill at that period, that I was
carried from house to house to display my reading, reaping
a great harvest of cakes, embraces, and encomiums, which
filled me with vanity,"

In a letter to liis uncle,^ the illustrious Bishop of
Cuyo, written after seeing Pompeii, our author de-
scribes himself again with much liveliness.

" I want your highness to do an act of justice in San
Juan, seizing by the ear our cousin M. It was your illus-
trious highness who, when curate, put a httle book into my
hand, remarking to some one at the same time — I have

302 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.

not forgotten it, because I have not foi^tten yon — that
at the age of four years I had the reputation of being the
most troublesome and vociferous reiider you had ever seen.
The crude notions which I acquired by my habits of early
reading, wandered a long time in my mind, like the clouds
in space when they meet with no point of support to form
a nucleus, till some little book which accident placed tn
my hands came to fill a vacuum, or some other, later, to
explain a passage not ivell undei'stood. I had many his-
toricid notions at that age, when the generality of children
are thinkin'^ only of their plays ; and now that I have vis-
ited Rome 1 have been able to recognize at first sight, by
the image engraven in my memory from the earliest child-
hood, in which I passed hours poring over a Roman
Guide Book, and which was the first book I owned, the
monuments I met with. I do not know how nor when I
read an account of the ruins of Pompeii, but not being
able to keep to myself the novelty and wonder it excited,
I attacked people in the street to tell them the portentous
stor}-. 1 told it thus to our cousin M., and instead of stand-
ing with open mouth as I had promised, he burst into a
fit of laughter ; and whenever he saw me where people
were auembled, he made me tell the story of Pompeii for
the general diversion. I have now seen that Pompeii which
so preoccupied my childhood, and it reminds nie of the
incredulity of M."

From this digression we return to his little book.

" Apart from a. natural faculty of comprehending what I
read, I had a secret background of images of which the
publit: was ignorant. My poor father, ignorant Iiimself,
but solicitous that his children should not be so, sharpened
at home this rising thirst for knowledge, and made me
read, without pity for my tender years, the ' Critical His-

L«-

BOTISe TASTES. 303

ton- of Spain,' in four volumes, the ' DesJdcrio and Electo,'
and other abominable books whicb I never turned to again,
but which left in my mind confused ideas of history, nlle-
gorics. fables, countries, and proper names. I on'e thus to
ray father that love of reading which has been the constant
occupation of my life, and although he could not give nie
an education because of his poverty, he gave me by his pa-
ternal solicitude the powerful instrument by which I have
supplied the want through my own efforts, thus fuliilling
the most constant and earnest of his wishes.

" I nevET knew how to spin a lop, to bat a ball, to fly a
kite, or had any inclination for such bovisli sporU. At
school I learned how to copy the knaves from cards, and
afterwards made a copy of San Martin on horseback, from
the paper lantern of a grocer, and from acquisition to ac-
quisition. I succeeded, after ten years of perseverance, in
divining all the secrets of making caricatures. In a family
visit on one occasion, at the house of Doiia liarhara Icaste,
1 occupied the day in copying the face of a San Jeronimo,
and that type once acquired, I reproduced it distinctly in
the faces of all ages and sexes. My teacher, weary of
correcting me in this pastime, concluded by resigning him-
self to it, and respecting the instinctive mania. When I
had an opportunity to be instructed in drawing, the will
to perfect myself in it was unfortunately wanting. But later
in life I spread through my province a taste for that graphic
art and under my direction or inspiration were formed half
a dozen artists, which San Juan now possesses. But that
taste was converted in my youth into one for sculptiire,
which took two different forms, and I made saints and
soldiers, the two great objects of my childish fancy.

'■ My mother raised me with the persuasion that I should
be a clergyman, and the curate of San Juan, in imitation
of my uncle ; and my father had visions for nie of mditary

304 BIOGRAPHICAL SSETUH.

jackets, gold lace, sabres, and other accoutrements to
match. Through my motlier, I was to follow colonial vo-
catioua ; through my father, the ideas and preoccupations of
that revolutionary epoch were infiltrated into nie ; and
obeying these contradictory impulses. I passed my leisure
hours in beatific contemplation of my mud saints, duly
painted, leaving them in turn quiet in their niches to give
battle in front of the house between two armies which my
neighbors and 1 had been preparing for perhaps a month
before by a large hoarding of wax balls, in order to thin
out the bedaubed files of shapeless puppet soldiers.

" I should not relate these trifles if they had not. later in
life, taken colossal forms and prefigured one of those re-
membered events which even at this day make me palpi-
tate with glory and vanity. ... In regard to my sacer-
dotal vocation. I assisted when a boy of thirteen at a pious
chapel in the house of the humpbacked Rodriguez, capable
of holding twenty persons, and endowed with a sacristy, bel-
frj-, and other requisites, with candlesticks, thuribles, and
musical bells made by Don Javier Jofre's negro, Rufino,
and of which we made an enonnous consumption in peal-
ings and processions. The chapel was consecrated to our
family patron, Sl Domingo. — I administering for two
years the august dignity of Provincial of the order of
Preachers, by acclamation of the chapter, and to the great
edification of the devotees. The friars of the convent of
Sl Domingo came to hear me sing the mass in which I
parodied my uncle, the curate, who sang very well, and I.
being his acolyte, watched all the mechanism of the mass,
not forgetting to mark the page in the missal in which
were the gospe! and epistle of the day, in order to repro-
duce them in perfection in my private mass.

" On Sunday afternoons, the Provincial transformed him-
self into the general-in-chief of an army of boys, and woe

WAR OF 1810. 305

to those who dared to make front to tbckt rain of stones
which issued from the bosom of my phalanx."

I omit the details of the boyish battle our auto-
biographer describes, in which he showed the determi-
nation and pluck which have characterized all his
maturer acts, I omit it (his later ones were under-
taken in better causes), fearing the publication of it
miglit not receive his sanction, though he amused him-
self and his " hundred friends " with the relation ; all
the personages engaged in it being probably well
known to them.

" This ends what I call the colonial history of my family.
What follows, is the slow and painful transition from one
mode of life to another, ihe life of the rising Republic, the
struggle of parties, civil war, proscription, and banishment.
To the family history succeeds as atmosphere and theatre
of action, the history of my native country. I succeed to
my progenitof^ and I believe that by following my foot-
steps as those of another in that path, the curioso may linger
over the events which form the general picture, incidents
of the country known to all, objects of general interest, by
the examination of which, the items of my biography, val-
ueless for themselves, will serve as a thread of connection ;
for in my life, so destitute of aid, so full of contrarieties,
and yet so persevering in its aspiration for all that is noble
and elevated, may be seen depicted that unhappy South
America, agitating itself in its condition of nothingness,
making supreme efforts to unfold its w-ings, lacerating itself
at everj- attempt against the iron bars of the prison in
which it is chained.

" Strange emotions must indeed have agitated the souls
of our fathers in 1810. The twilight perspective of a new

306 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.

epoch, liberty, independence — new words then — must
have made their fibres tremble deliciously, powerfully ex-
cited their imaginations, and sent the blood rushing wildly
through their hearts. That year, what anxiety, what hap-
pines.s. what enthusiasm ! There is a story of a king, who
trembled like an aspen at the sight of a naked dagger, the
effect of his mother's emotions when she carried him under
her bosom, and in whose arms a man was stabl^^d. I was
bom in 1811, tlie ninth month after the 25th of May. and
my father had thrown himself into the revolution, and my
mother was agitated every day by the momentarj- news of
the progress of the insurrection. Before I could speak
plainly, they began to familiarize my eyes and my tongue
with the alphabet, such was the eagerness with which the
colonials who already felt themselves to be citizens fell to
educating their children, as may be seen by the decrees of
the gubernatorial junta and the other governments of that
epoch.

■' Full of this holy spirit, the government of San Juan,
sent, in 181G, for some men from Buenos Ajres, worthy
by their education and moral character to be teachers in
Prussia, and on the opening of the school of La Patria, I
passed immediately into the troop of four hundred children
of all ages and conditions, who were eager to receive the
only solid instruction which has been given amongst us in
primary schools. The memory of Don Ignacio, and Don
Joso Jenaro Rodriguez, still awaits the reparation due to
their immense, their holy services; and I must not die
until my country has fulfilled that sacred duty. The sen-
timent of equality was developed in our hearts by the
epithet of Seiior, which we were obliged to give each other
without regard to condition or race ; and by the morality
of manners, stimulated by the example of the master; the
oral lessons, and tlie punishments which were only severe

DON IGNACIO RODRIGUEZ. 307

and humiliating when inflicted for crimes. . . . IVbeD
a. pupil of the reading school, an elevated seat wus con-
structed at the end uf the hall, a sort of throne accessible
by steps, aod I was placed upon it n^th the name of ' first
CITIZEN,' Don Ignacio liodriguez, who is still living, can
tell if the seat was made for me. A jouth named Domin-
go filoron succeeded mc in that honorable place, and it
afterwards fell into disuse. This circumstance and the
consequent publicity acquired from that time, the praises
of which I was always the object and the witness, must
have contributed to give to my manners a cliaracter of
fatuity of which I was not made aware until much later in
life. From a child, I believed in my talents, as a rich
mnn does in his money, or a soldier in his warlilie deeds.
Every one said so, and in nine years of school-life, there
were not a dozen out of two thousand children who were
before me in their capacity to leam, notwithstanding that
at last I hated the school, as well as grammar, algebra,
and arithmetic Aly school morality also must have be-
come slack by this eternal school-life, for I remember that
I finally fell into disfavor with the master. . . .

" It is a deserved tribute to my mother to say that we
were brought up in a holy horror of lalseliood. I was
always distinguished in school for exemplarv veracity, and
the masters rewarded it by proposing me as a model to
others, praising me. and quotrag me with encomiums, so
that tiiG purpose of being always truthful was deepened
more and more in mc ; a purpose whicli has formed the
fotmdation of my character, and to which all the acts of
my life have testified.

" My school apprenticesliip was concluded by one of those
acts of injustice so frequent, from which I have guarded
myself carefully whenever I have been in similar circum-
stances. Don Bernardino Rivadavia (then I'resideut), —

308 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.

that unfortunate educator whose well-chosen plans were
trampled under foot by the horses of Quiroga. Lopez.
Bosas. and all the chiefs of the barbarous reaction move-
ment, — summoned from each province six youths of known
talents to be educated by the nation, in order that when
their studies were concluded, they might return to their
respective cities, lo assume scientific professions and give
lustre to their country. He asked that they should be
from decent but poor families, and Don Ignacio Rodriguez
come to my father to tell him that my name headed the
list of chosen children whom the nation was about to take
under its wing. But the covetousness of the rich inter-
fered : lots were drawn ; all the city went to the register-
ing, and a list of candidates was made out. and the election
was made by ballot Fortune was not the patron of my
family, and I was not one of the sin favored ones. What
a day of sadness to my parents was that on which the fatal
notice came to them ! My mother wept in silence ! My
father buried his face in his hands.

■• But the fate that had been unjust to, me, was not so to
the province, although it knew not how to take advantage,
in later days, of the riches that were in preparation for it.
The lot fell to Antonio AberastaJn, as poor a boy as my-
self, endowed with remarkable talents, an iron application
to study, and a moral sentiment which has made him a
shining example to this day. No one knows better than I
the depths of his character: we were friends from infancy;
I, his proteg^ in the adult school, when in 1836, we both
arrived in San Juan, he from Buenos Ayres. I from Chili ;
he began to lend me the support of his influence, to raise
me in his arms every time the malicious envy of the village
overwhelmed me with a wave of disfavor or jealousy, ever^-
time that the leveller vulgarity persisted in reducing me to
the common herd. Supreme Judge of Doctor j

DON ANTONIO ABERASTAIN. 309

he was always there defending me against the rich young
men who wished to throw obstacles in my path. 1 have
owed to this good man, even the marrow of my bones.
He was full of energy without the appearance of it, humble
even to self-annihilation. To him, and to another man in
Chili, I owed still later my own self-estimation, by the
proofs they lavished upon me of theirs, both sening and
upholding me more than a fortune could have done. The
esteem of the good acts as galvanism. A glance of benev-
olence from them can say to Lazarus, ' Arise and walk ! '
I have never loved any one as I loved Aberastain ; no
man has left deeper traces of respect and admiration upon
my heart

" Afler he left San Juan, the Supreme Tribunal of Jus-
tice was administered by men without professional educa-
tion, and often so unfit, poor fellows, that they would have
been stupid mule-drivers. Ultimately the honorable Plouse
of Representatives declared that even in default of San-
juanino advocates, no foreigner could be a judge, that is to
gay, no individual of another confederate province, and this
legislative act shows the perversion of mind into which
these people have fallen." '

On the occasion of laj'ing the corner-stone of the
"Sarmiento School" in San Juan, in 1864, — a splen-
did edifice built within the walls of an abandoned'
church, partly erected many years before, — Colonel
Sarmiento thus speaks of the influence of school-days
upon his life.

pupili in childfavDd, lacb
Dt by [he loubriqaet of
tbi> Spanitli cuatom of
les, balf Ibe people «re
lul or BccidcnUl or cliac-

1 In bia biography of bia ftiend, lie i
fwliag of respect for Aberaetain anioog .

" God-tbe-Failier." Wb caa hardly a

knovD by lome fiui
uuriiUc qualiUea.

cy name

growiDgou

SIO BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.

^ The inspiration to consecrate myself to the education
of the people, came to me here in my youth. My labor of
thirty years, that of serving the countries where I resided
with schools, turns now to its point of departure, to the very
simple idea of the importance of primary school education
over all other education, to insure the happiness of nations.
If I had been bom in Buenos Ayres, or Cordova, or in
Santiago de Chili, the primary education of this part of the
country would not have arrived at this point when all are
striving for that end. I should have been preoccupied
with the brilliant university, and should have aspired to
its honors. But I was bom and educated amidst the peo-
ple of a province where there was no other education than
that of the public school, and the ' Escuela de la Patria '
was one of the first order, without a rival in any private
one, conducted by a man so respected by the people and
the government, that at that time the schoolmaster was
looked u]x>n as one of the first magistrates of the province.
Observe, then, bv what sinsmlar circumstances the schooL
as an institutiou. was destined to acquire in my mind that
supreme importance which I have never ceased to give it ;
and how. at the close of my travels. I found in the United
States that the school occupied the same place as in San
Juan, and brou<rht forth like results. The truth is. that the
first ideas in the child s mind keep the same relative posi-
tion alwavs. and however sli«rhtlv thev meet with confirma- '
lion, gitiw and develop, and determine the career in life.
If I should express all my thoughts. I should say that the
School of La Patria. in San ^Tuan. associated in my mind
with the reccdlections of the onlv form of education with
whkh I was acquainted, went forth with me from this prov-
ince, and accompanied me in aU my wanderings. In Qiifi
it uxvk the form of nomud schools : in Europe I connected
i: with the smdv of lecisladon : in the Umted Scales with

SABMIENTO SCHOOL IN 8AK JDAN. 311

the spectacle of its wonderful results, of its temple school-
houses, and of the prominent place it holds among the
institutions of that country. In Buenos Ayres I repro-
duced it OS a seed sown in propitious ground, and I rutnm
to do the same to-day in San Juan, by reestablishing the
School of La Patria. completed as on educational institu-
tion, and also as a democratic one, and I bring to It all the
acquisitions made in my long and various travels. No lon-
ger confined to three halls that contained in all but three
hundred pupils, we have here an edifice that ivill ena-
ble us to throw off the swaddling-clothes of infancy. To-
day we lay the stone which consecrates to education tliese
beginnings of an unfinished temple. And that you may
see how advanced ideas have grown. I will repeat to you
what I have replied to tliose who have wished this edifice
kept to its first destination, and who yet abandoned it to
sterility and destruction.

•■ At the comer of the next block, thirty steps from here,
thirty years ago, I was a merchant's clerk, and hei'e pur-
sued my solitary studies. Even at tliat time, I saw that a.
spacious school-house might be erected witliin these walls,
and with your assistance I now realize my thought after
the delay of so many years.'

'■ Obscr\-e another class of ideas and events Uiat deserve
to be recorded. If the School of La Patria inspired me
with this high estimation of primary education which has
distinguished me from the geueratity of the men of my
epoch, in my country, its excellence did not comt of itself-
nor from the advanced condition of the provinces. It was
due to a respected family from Buenos Ayres whose head

1 The ciliioni of Sm Juan, of all ctMicn, coatribulad lo Ihti rrMtion of
Ilia Sarminnlo Scbuol. aome by Ihi produco of ibaii fanaa uid olhn
1iliai>, the ladiei by theatrical Hliibilioni, concorti, fturs, ittiii roioy
lib<nl mrii bv their money. It wu erected within Iba roliu of sd abui-
doned cbuicb.

812 BIOGRAPinCAL SKETCH.

was Don Ijnaeio Finnen Rodriguez, of venerated memory
among Saiijuaninos. and whose image is to-day recalled to
you by the foundation of a new school, the continuation of
his work. I was asked at Buenos Ayres how it was possi-
ble that in the year 1818, so near onr middle agei, we had
schools and masters so advanced. This question was also
put to tne during my travels in America and Europe, after
I found in Chili and even in Duenos Ayres itself, less
advanced public schools than I had left here in my child-
hood, schools to be compared only with those of Germany
and the United States.

" My master explained it to me in the last years of his
life, feeling unwilling to accept all the eulogies with which
my gratitude and my admiration sought to make his merits
known. His explanation was that he had read Scotch trea-
tises upon instruction, and bad conformed himself to their
principles. In fact, primiiry education in Scotland has
been far superior to that of England, and this was proved

from early times by its institutions and science

D. Ignacto, for thus he was always called, read, wrote, and
ciphered perfectly. He dictated and sent to the press in
Buenos Ayres. a grammar, an orthography, and a treatise
upon arithmetic. Later, he taught algebra and some geog-

" One year I saw a book upon his table, which showed
that he did not yet know Latin, and proposed to leam it.

" He was religious, which appeared less in ceremonies
than in precepts, and explanations of the catechism, and
especially in the frequent inculcation of the principles of
morality.

" His Sj>ecial quality as a master was to inspire re-
spect, and i ought to say that all education is vain in the
presence of a dedciency of this quality as is the case in the
generality of masters. To-day, for instance, there is not a

SCHOOL OP LA PATHIA. 313

single master in San Juan who possesses this primary
qualification of his profession.

" In the absence of D. Ignacio. his influence, his shadow,
I may say, presided over the school. A dull murmur of
conversation might be heard : but it did not come to be
noisy, and never rose to a shout ; as soon as lie was seen
to pass by the window, that suppressed murmur began to
subside and became silence, and this silence was never dis-
turbed by any one in his presence ; there was no necessity
of calling to order, to which our masters recur in vain. I
preserve still the almost religious impression of this respect
which he inspired iu us all, without exception, a respect
which we saw at home was mixed with love, and which
accompanied us to adult years, although many of his
pupils have occupied stations more exalted as to social
position than his own.

"The sphere of his instruction [was not very extensive,
but as we only learn by having our intelligence developed,
his mode of teaching went straight to the object, and what-
ever he taught we learned well, because he cultivated the
thinking powers from the beginning. In San Juan there
were fine readers taught by a new and easy method, long
before they could be found in Chili, and the Sanjuaninos
of those times were better spellers than there are to-day
among tiie cultivated youth of Iluenos Ayres.^ At first he
tried the system of emulation ; his pupils were Cartha-
genians and Romans i but later he modified this system by
giving to each pupil one opponent who always ended by
being his best friend. At last he adopted Lancaster's
method. But the system which he used to perfection was
that of simultaneous recitation.

" He tried every system of punishments during the

I The Spanisb laogUDge has been very mucb adullcraled in South

31-1 BEOGKAPHICAL SKETCH.

nine years that I was his pupil, according as iiis views
improved, but he never deprived himself of the resource
of corporal chostiseroent, in cases where he deemed it
necessary.

" A thousand qualities distinguished this man from the
generality of teachers, and establbhed his superiority.
Most of his teaching was oral, especially in grammar and
arithmetic, and was reasoned out and duly exemplified.

" D. Ignacio has gone lo his grave, but his spirit is en-
shrined in the hearts of a people who preserve the tra-
ditions of popular education. His pupils have diflused it,
and San Juan and Duenos Ayres, by their improvements in
education, testify to the service of the Rodriguez family of
blessed memory.

" I have digressed uito these details, although by so doing
I have detained you too long, in order to rouse you to a
great and noble effort San Juan was the first Argentine
province, as I have shown you, which after the revolution
of independence elevated primary education to the highest
grade of perfection possible at tliat epoch. From San
Juan went forth the impulse which in these later days has
stimulated two republics. San Juan owes it to herself to
reestablish the fame of her ancient school, and permit me
to say, that it is the duty of my country and my compatri-
ots to aid tne in the full development of a system of com-
mon school education which shall put the seal upon the
work of thirty years of my life."

" In regard to my education," he continues, " it may be
said that fate intervened to dog my steps. I next went to
the seminary of Loreto in Cordova, but was obliged to
return without entering, for the revolution of Carita left me
without a Latin teacher. In 1825, I began to study
mathematics and surveying under M. Borreau, engineer
of that province. Together we drew up the plan of the

EDCCATIOK. 315

Streets of Roji, Desempamdos, and Santa Barbara, and
from there round to the Pueblo Rajo. and I alone, my
teacher having abandoned nie. that of the Cathedral Santa
Lucia and Legua. That same year I went to San Luis to
continue with the clergyman Oro the education which the
revolution of IS'24 had interrupted. A year later I was
summoned by the government to be sent to the Collcge^of
the Horal Sciences, and arrived at San Juan, after having
once refused to go, at the moment when the lancers of
Facundo Quiroga appeared from the dusty wood, fluttering
their sinister banners through the streets. The next year
I entered a commercial house as a timid apprentice, — I,
who had been educated by the presbyter Oro, in solitude
which so develops the imagination, dreaming of con-
gresses, war, glory, liberty, in short, of the Republic. I
was sad for many days, and, like Franklin, whom his
parents destined for a soap-bc^ler, but who was des-
tined to rob the heavens of tlieir lightnings, and tyrants of
tiieir sceptres, I ' took an aversion to the road that leads to
fortune.' In my musings, in hours of idleness, 1 returned
to the fields of San Luis, where I wandered through the
woods with my Latin grammar in my hand studying mat-
eria ivnl maribiu, and interrupting the repetition by throw-
ing stones at the birds. I missed that sonorous voice .
which had for two whole years sounded in my ears, placid,
friendly, moving my heart-strings, calling out my senti-
ments, elevating my mind. The reminiscences of that
oral shower which fell every day upon my soul, presented
tliemseh'es like the pictures of a book whose significance
we comprehend by the action of the figures. Peoples,
historj", geography, religion, morals, politics, all these were
annotated as in an index, but I missed tlic book, which
gave the details, and I was alone in the world in the mtdst
of parcels of condiments and pieces of chintz, which I

316 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.

was to measure out by the yard to tliose who came to
buy them. But there must be books, I said, which treat
specially of all things and teach them to children, and if
one understands what he reads, he can learn them without
the assistance of a master, — and I rushed to seek those
books, and in tliat remote province, in that hour of taking
my resoludoii. I found what I sought, such as I had con-
ceived it, prepared by exiled patriots who wished well to
America, and who had foreseen from London this necessity
of South America to educate itself, and responding to my
importunities had sent me the catechisms of Akermann
which Don Tomas Rojo had introduced into San Juan.
' I have found it,' I could exclaim like Archimedes, for I
had foreseen, sought and found those catechisms which
later in the year 182'J, I gave to Don Satumino Laspiar
for the education of his children.' There wa-s ancient
history, and that Persia, and that Egypt, those Pyramids,
and that Nile, of which the clergyman Oro had told me.
I studied the history of Greece by heart, and then that of
Rome, feeling myself to he successively Leonidas and
Brutus, Ariatides, Camillus, Harmodius, and Kpaminon'
das ; and this while I was selling herbs and sugar, and
making grimaces to those who came to draw me from my
newly-discovered world where I wished to hve. In the
mornings after sweeping the shop. I read, and as a certain
SeSora passed by on her way from church, and her eyes
always fell, day after day, month after month, upon that
boy, immovable, insensible to every disturbance, his eyes
fixed upon a book, one day, shaking her head, she said
to her family, 'That lad cannot be good — if those books
were good he would not read them so eagerly ! '

" From that time 1 read every book that fell into my

angbt to

BEADING 8. 317

hands, without arrangement, with no other guide ^than the
chance which brought them to me, or the knowledge I had
acquired of their existence in the scanty libraries of SaD
Juan. The first was the 'Life of Cicero' by rfiddleton,
with very fine plates, and in that hook I lived n long time
with the Romans. If I had then had half the means of
doing it. I should have studied law to make myself an
advocate and defend causes like that distinguished orator
who was the object of ntiy passionate love. The second .
was the ' Life of Franklin,' and no book has ever done me
more good. The ' Life of Franklin ' was to me what
' Plutarch's Lives ' were to Rousseau, Henry IV., l^Iadame
Roland, and so many others. 1 felt myself to be Frank-
lin, — and why not ? I was very poor like him, 1 studied
like him, and following in his footsteps, 1 might one day
come, like hiiu. to be a doctor ad bonorem! and to make
myself a place in letters and American politics. The
'Life of Frankhn' should be in every primary school.
His example is so inspiring, the career he ran so glorious,
that there would not he a boy at all well-inclined who
would not try to be a little Franklin, through that noble
tendency of the human mind to imitate models of perfec-
tion that commend themselves to it. Holy aspirations of
the young soul for the beautiful and the perfect ! Where
among our books is the type, the practical possible model,
which shall guide them ? Our preachers propose to us the
saints of heaven, that we may imitate their ascetic virtues
and scoui^ngs, but however well-intentioned a boy may
be, he soon renounces the pretension to perform miracles,
for the simple reason that those who counsel him to try it,
do not perform any themselves."

It was at this time that he read the Bible with his
ancle the presbyter Albarracin, Paley's " Natural

318 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.

Theology and Evidences of Christianitj-,"' " Tlie True
Idea of the Holy See," and "Feijoo" (a Catholic
writer who tried to reason away many of the super-
stitious ohservances of the Church, and came very
near falling into the hands of the Inquisition for so
doing). This completed that eminently religious and
raisonnde education wliich liad come to him from the
cradle, transmitted from his mother to the schoolmas-
ter, from his mentor Ora to the Presbyter Albarracin.

PUllLIC LIFE.

" At sixteen I entered prison, and came out of it with
political opinions diametrically opposed to those of Silvio
Fellico. to whom prisons taught the moral of resignation
and self-annihilaUon. P'rom the time ' My Prisons ' fell
into my hands, I was inspired with a horror of that doc-
trine of moral discouragement which it went forth to
preach through the world, and which was so acceptable to
kings, who felt that they were threatened by the enei'gy of
their people. How would the human race have advanced,
if in order to comprehend the interests of their eountrj',
men needed to have spiritual eiercises in the dungeons
of Spielberg, the Bastille, and Santos Lugares? Woe to
the world if the Czar of Russia, the Kmperor of Austria, or
the tyrant Rosas conld teach morality to mankind ! Silvio
Pellico's book is llie death of the soul, the morality of dun-
geons, the slow poison of degradation of mind. He and
his book have happily passed away, and the world has gone
on in spite of the cripples, paraljlics, and valetudinarians
whom political struggles have lefU

"I was a shopkeeper by profession in 1827, and J do not
remember whether 1 was also Cicero, Franklin, or The-
mistocles (it depends upon what book 1 was reading at the

EAELT PUBLIC LIFE. 319

time of the catastrophe), but I was told for the third time
to close my shop and mount guard in the character of en-
sign of militia, to which rank I had of late been promoted.
I was very much opposed to that guard, and over my own
aature 1 complained of the service, and used the expres-
1, ■ with which we are oppressed.' I was at once re-
■cd of the guard, and summoned into the presence of
the colonel of the army of Chili, Don Manuel Quiroga,
then Governor of San Juan, who at the moment was taking
his ease, seated in the eotirt-yard of the Government House.
This circumstance and my extreme youth (sixteen), natu-
rally authorized the Governor, on speaking to nic, to keep
hb seat, and keep on his hat. But it was the first time I
had presented myself before one in authority. I was young,
ignorant of life, haughty by education, and perhaps by my
daily contact with Cresar. Cicero, and other favorite person-
ages, and as the Governor did not answer my respectful
salute, before answering his question, ' Is this your signa-
ture, sir?' I hurriedly lifted my hat, intentionally put it
on again, and answered resolutely, ' Yes, sir.'

" The dumb scene that followed would have perplexed
the spectator, doubting which was the chief and which the
subaltern, who were defying each other by their glances,
the eyes of each wide open and fixed upon each other ; the
Governor endeavoring to make me cast down mine by the
flashes of anger that gleamed from his own, and I with
mine fixed unwinking, to make him understind that his
rage was aimed at a soul fortified against all intimidation.
T conquered, and in a transport of anger, he called an aide-
de-can) p and sent me to prison.

" Friends flew to see me, among them Laspuir. now min-
ister, who was very fond of me ; he advised me to do what
he had always done, yield before difficulties. My father
came soon, and ailcr I had told him the story, he said,

320 BIOGRAPHICAL SEETCS.

' You have done a foolish thing, but it is done i now bear
the consequences with courage." The affair was followed
up. I was asked if I had heard the government complained
o£ I answered, ' Yes, by many.' When asked for names,
I said, 'Those who had spoken in my presence had not
authorized me to communicate their opinions to the au-
thorities.' They insisted ; I persisted ; thev threatened
me 1 I held my tongue ; (hey abandoned the cause, and I
was set at liberty.

" I was initiated thus by tlie authorities themselves into
tlie party questions of the city; into questions which divided
the R«puhhc, and it was not in liome or in Greece that I
was to seek for liberty and country, but there, in San Juan,
in the horizon where the events opened that were prepar-
ing in the last days of Kivadavia's presidency. . . .

" At the fiesta of Pueblo Viejo, I fired a sky-rocket at
the hoofs of a group of hoises, and Colonel Quiroga, then
ex-governor, came out from among the horsemen to mal-
treat me, attributing to malice prepense what was only a
piece of folly. We had a wordy dispute, he on horseback,
I on foot. He had a train of fifty horsemen, and I fixed
my eyes upon him and his spirited horse to avoid being
trampled upon, when I felt something touch me behind in
a dis^reeable and significant manner. I put my hand be-
hind me, and touched — the barrel of a pistol, which was
left in my hand. I was also at that instant the head of a
phalanx, which had gathered in my defense. The Federal
party, headed by Quiroga Carril, was on the point of a
hand-to-hand encounter with the Unitario party, whom I
served unconsciously at that moment The ex-govemor
rode off, confounded by the mocking laughter he heard,
and perhaps astonished at being a second time worsted in
the presence of a boy who did not arrogantly give him
provocation, nor timidly yield when once embarked in a

HEROIC ENTHUSIASM. 321

bad undertaking. The next day 1 was a UDitario; a month
later I knew the party questions in their very essence, knew
their personages and their views, for from that moment I
entered upon the voluminous study of opposing principles.
" When the war broke out, I gave into the hands of my
aunt, Dofla Angela, the shop I had in charge, enlisted with
the troops which had risen in insurrection against Facundo
Quiroga in tJie Quijadas, made the campaign of Jacbel,
found myself in the encounter at Tafin, escaped being
taken prisoner with the carts and horses which I had pre-
viously taken in the Posito, under the order of Don Javier
Angulo, fled with my father to Mendoza, where the very
troops which had conquered us in San Juan had risen
against the Aldaos, and shordy afler was nominated adju-
tant"

He was subsequently an approved instructor of re-
cruits, then second director of the Military Academy,
to which office he was assigned for his knowledge of
cavalry maneuvei-s and tactics, due to his peculiar hab-
its of study. The campaign of Mendoza, which ended
in the horrible tragedy of Pilar, brought on by the bad
feith of Aldao, was to him the poetry, the idealization,
the realization of his readings. He was only eighteen,
a beardless youth, unknown to the world, but lie lived
in an ecstasy of enthusiasm, ready at any moment to
be a hero, to sacrifice himself, or to die, in order to
obtain the smallest result in the cause for which he
fought, — which was liberty to all as well as to himself.
He describes himself as fighting with " demoniac "
zeal, the first in pursuit of guerillas, regardless of
danger ; indeed, so beside himself, that ^ last his
superior officer took away his rifle, as one takes a noisy

322 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.

trumpet from children, till tliey learn to do what they
are bid.

These combats were in the streets of the city, and
the conquerors in one werf now prisoners in another.
His father followed him everywhere like a tutelar
angel, but was often unable to restrain his fanaticism.
Indeed, on one occasion, when the noble Leprida most
affectionately and earnestly, but in vain, endeavored to
withdraw him from the combat, — the illustrious Lep-
rida, President of that Congress of Tucuman, which
declared the independence of Spanish rule, and before
whom the most eminent men of the Republic bowed
their heads, as before one of the fathers of their coun-
try, and who perished in that terrible massacre, — he also
obliged his father to flee without him, who lingering
too long on the road, almost beside himself with anxiety
and shame for having preserved his own life by flight,
was at last taken prisoner and carried to San Juan,
where he escaped being shot only by a ransom of two
thousand dollars. The young Sarmiento escaped many
perils at that time — that of being shot by the order of
his own government, from which he was saved bj-
a noble foe, who carried him and other enthusiastic
youths who were brought prisoners to him, to the shel-
ter of his own roof, where he protected them at the
risk of his own life ; the peril of being shot in the
barracks by three assassins instigated by Aldao, be-
side that of innumerable skirmishes and engagements.
He says human nature never showed itself more un-
worthy to him than in that treacherous attack of the
drunken friar, Aldao, upon a group of sixty officers,
who had assembled afrer a truce had been agreed upon.

THE MASTERY OF LAKQUAGES. 323

It was at that time that two hundred persons fell vic-
tims to the atrocities of Aldao, among whom were
twenty of Sarmiento's own friends. But such is the
elasticity of youth, that while a prisoner in his own
house in Mendoza, to escape Aldao, an opportunity
offering to study French with a soldier of Napoleon,
who did not know Spanish nor the grammar of his own
language, in six weeks from the beginning he had made
such progress as to have translated twelve volumes.

He kept his books upon the dining-table (it was the
sight of a French library in the place that had awak-
ened Ilia zeal), removed them at meal times, extin-
guished his candle at two in the morning, or wlien the
reading absorbed him entirely, passed two or three
days in succession, seated, with Ids dictionary by his
side. Fourteen years afterward, on visiting. France,
he learned to pronounce the language.

I' was affpr thpsp events that with his frnnilv and
those of the most prominent citizens of San Juan, he
emigrated to Chili, to escape the fearful tyranny de-
scribed in the work now published. At first he kept
school in Los Andes, then was a shopkeeper in Pocuro,
with a small capital provided by his iamily, afterwards
a commercial clerk in Valparaiso, then majordomo of
mines in Copiapo. While in Valpai-aiso, earning an
ounce a month, he paid lialf of it to RIckard, the Eng-
lish professor, and two reals a week to the watchman
of the ward, to wake him at two in the morning for his
English studies. Saturday niglLts he passed without
sleep, ti> eke out the leisure of Sunday. After he had
taken lessons six weeks, Rickard told him that he only
wanted the pronunciation, which he did not acquire,
however, till very lately.

324 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.

While majordomo of the Copiapo mines, he translated
a volume a day of the sixty volumes of Sir Walter Scott's
works, beside some other books. His reading in Val-
paraiso was vcrj- extensive, and these readings, enriched
by several languages, spread out before him all the
great discussions of philosophical, political, moral, and
religious ideas, and to use his own expression, " opened
the pores of his intelligence to imbibe them." When
the labor of the mining day was over, he met, in a
certain kitchen where thcv partook of refreshment,
other Argentine majordomos, foremen, and laborers,
exiles like himself, to discuss politics, and in th6 even-
ings assembled at the house of another, the only one
who had a family establishment there, thus keeping op
their habits of civilized life. At these reunions, in his
miner's dress, — which consisted of doublet and hose,
striped drawers, a red cap, and a broad sash, from
which depended a purse capable of holding twenty-five
pounds of sugar, but in which he always kept several
bundles of tobacco, a dress he had assumed partly from
fancy and partly from economy, — he was always the
oracle to which all appealed for points of history, geog-
raphy, or other book learning. Anecdotes are told of
the astonishment of strangers at the little learned miner,
who was supposed to be only a peon who had strayed
into the company. Once, for want of the book, he
recited a whole pamphlet he had written upon a plan
for planting a colony on the Colorado River, and made
converts too — for he was from his youth always elo-i
quent upon the point of cultivating the soil. In the
proper place we shall speak of his success in later life
in showing to his countrymen the advantages of agri-

A COMMUNITY OF 3TCDENTS. 326

culture over cattle -growing. While at Copiapo it was
his habit to entertain the miners by drawings of birds
and animals, and he taught French to others, for those
who knew less than himself were always objects of in-
terest to him.

In t83fi. he returned to San Juan, ill with a cerebral
attack, destitute of resources, scarcely known to any
one, for few old friends had yet returned from exile.
A complicated operation in arithmetic, which the in-
competent government needed, brought him again into
notice, and afier suffering many privations, he gradu-
ally took his place again with Cortinez, Aberastain,
Quiroga Rosas, and Rodriguez, men of mark and edu-
cation, worthy to figure in any part of South America,
Together they founded a college for young ladies, in aid
of which project he had written a forcible appeal for
the education of women, and of which he was made
director — and another for men, which was not allowed
to succeed. The college for ladies lasted but two years,
but left its mark upon the society of San Juan. A
dramatic society and many public amusements that
tended to cultivate and improve manners, were among
the improvements made by these young men, stimu-
lated by the undying zeal and executive ability of Sar-
miento. Here, in the library of Quiroga Rosas, he
found Villemain, and Schlegel ; in literature, JouSroi,
Lermennier, Guizot, Cousin; in philosophy, Tocque-
ville, and Pedro Leroux ; the " Encyclopedic Review,"
aa synthesis of all opinions, Charles Didicr, and a hun-
dred other authors, whom he devoured with avidity.
For two years these books furnished material for im-
passioned discussions between the friends, and in this

326 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.

school of pLilosopIiv, as lie considered it, ther talked
over the new doctrines, attacked, defended, resisted,
and were at last more or less conquered bv them.
Here his own mind, hitherto but a reflecting mirror of
the ideas of others, began to move and march on. He
now began to think clearly for himself on all subjects.

" The European mind," as he expresses it- " began to
transfuse itself into the American mind, and I began to
apply to the different circumstances of the two theatres of
action the results at which I arrived.

"It was in li*37 that I learned Italian, in company with
young Rawson,' whose talents had then begun tp show them-
selves strikingly. Several years afterward, when editing
the ' Mercuric ' in Santiago de Chili, I familiarized myself
with Portuguese, which is veiy easy. In Paris, still later,
I shut myself up fifteen days with a German grammar and
dictionary-, and translated six pages to the satisfaction of
an intelligent man who gave me lessons, tliat supreme
effort leaving me an incomplete scholar, although I thought
I had caught the structure of thai rebellious idiom.

" 1 taught French to many persons for the sake of spread-
ing good reading among them ; and to sundry of my friends
I taught it without giring them lessons. To put them in
the path which I had trodden, I said, ' You must not fail
to study — I am coming.' And when I saw their self-love
fairly piqued, 1 gave them a few lessons upon the way to
study for themselves.

" In all these efforts I always had in full activity the
organ of instruction, and which was more cultivated in me
than any other; educated by the liring speech of the
presbyter Oro, and the curate Albarracin, and always
seeking the society of well-informed men, then and after-

1 Lda S«ereUry of Sixte in ths Rtpnblic.

" LA ZONDA." 327

wards my friends. Aberastam, Penero, Lopez, Alberdi,
Gutierrez, Oro, Tejedor, Fragueiro, Montt, and many oth-
ers, contributed, without knowing it, to develop my mind,
transmitting their ideas to me. and giving me an opportu-
nity to unfold my own as the complement to theirs.

" How are ideas formed ? I believe that in the mind of
one who studies, it happens as in those inundations of riv-
ers where the waters deposit little by little the particular
solids washed down by them, and with which they fertilize
the adjacent territory."

With the aid of the old friends whom he found in
San Juon, he founded at this time a periodical called
" La Zonda," which criticized village manners, pro-
moted the spirit of enthusiasm, and would have been
of incalculable benefit, if the government, which the
periodical did not attack, had not felt a horrible appre-
hension of the light it wa.s sending abroad.

" Out of this came my second imprisonment," he sayf;,
" for refusing to pay twentj--six dollars, of which in viola-
tion of the laws and decrees in force, the government pro-
posed to rob nic. Don Antonio Benavides (Governor),
and Don Antonio lilaradoua (Minister), jointly and in
soHdum owe me twenty-six dollars every day that impends,
and they shall pay me. as God lives, one or the other of
theiu, sooner or later, the latter rather than the former,
because a minister is put in his place to give counsel to
the governor, who does not know so well the laws of bis
country, too self-willed to be restrained by laws, those frail
barriers to his caprice, but which are insuperable through
the respect tlii-ir direct agents deserve among cultivated
men. The governor of San Juan, wishing to free the prov-
ince from the serious evils which might be brought upon
it by the publication of a periodical which was edited by'

828 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.

four men of kttars oompetent to die tesk — tint is, not
wishing any one to examine his acts or enl^ten pobfic
opinion, sent me word diat tlie second number ai 'La
ZoodsL * was worth twelve doflars. I ordered the printer
to draw so many doDars^ and * La Zonda ' died of diat
soffixatJon."

One day he received a summons to a|q)ear before
the governor, who asked him if he had obeyed the
order to pay twenty-six dollars for the last number €i
** La Zonda." He replied that it was an illegal de-
mand, and that he bad had no official notice to pay it,
for the messenger by whom it was sent, the printer,
was not a legal messenger, and the law provided that
no money should be required of writers, the publishers
having the benefit of sales, in order to encourage pub-
lications. Finding him resolute in his refusal, Bena-
vides threw him into prison. His friends visited him
and advised him to yield the point, in order to save the
college of which he was director. The aide-de-camp
came to receive the money, and received a warrant
against a merchant, accompanied by his own signature,
by which Sarmiento was to recover in due time, in
view of the law which was violated to his injury, the
sum of which he was despoiled, with damages. Thus
ended this a&ir, but he savs, —

''My situation in San Juan became more and more
thorny every day, as the political horizon became more and
more charged with threatening clouds. Without any plan
of life, without influence, repelling the idea of conspiracy,
in coffee-houses, and assemblies, as well as in the presence
of Benavides, I spoke my convictions with all the sincerity
of my nature, and the suspicions of the government closed

INTEETIEW WITH BENAVIDES.

S29

around me od every side like a cloud of flies buzang in
my ears.

"In 1839 an incident complicated the situation. The
friar Aldao was defeated, and his instantaneous arrival in
San Juan was annouDced. The few men who opposed the
government feared for their lives. Dr. Aberastain was the
only one who would not flee. I prevailed upon him to go,
— I begged hinj to go. and he yielded to my request I
was the only one who knew Aldao well. 1 alone had been
in Mendoza the spectator of atrocities of which tvo
hundred unhappy persons, twenty of whom were my
friends and companions, had been the victims. IVhen they
spoke to me of preparing for the intended flight, I gave
reasons of convenience and duty which obliged me to
remain in San Juan, to which they could but give assent.
Aldao did not come, but the fears of the government and
the rage of the new and hitherto unknown men into
whose hands it had put arms, were concentrated upon

" At that time I made a supreme effort. I saw JMara-
dona the ex-minister, thev representatives of Sala, and as
many men as could influence the mind of Benavides, in
order that they might restrain him, if possible, from the
abyss into which I saw him rushing — despotism, chielWin-
ship, the overthrow of all the foundations on which society
reposes. The growing tyrant sent for me.

'* ' I know that you are conspiring, Don Domingo.'
" ' It is false, sir ; I do not conspire'
" ' You are influencing the Representatives.'
" ' Ah I that is another thing ; your Excellency sees that
there is no conspiracy. I have my right to apply to the
magistrates and the representatives of the people, to prevent
the calamities which your Excellency b preparing for the
country. Your Excellency is alone, isolated, obstinate in

330

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EEASONINO WITH AN IGKOEANT TTBANT. 331

" ' These proclamation a are printed here.'

" ' You are mistaken, sir, they were printed in Salta."

" ' There ! do not deceive me.'

" ' I never deceive, sir. I repeat that they were printed
in Salta. The press of San Juan has not this small capital ;
this other type, that '

" Benavides insisted, sent for Galaburn the printer, and
was convinced of his error.

" ' Give me tins paper.'

" ' I will read it to you, sir ; it is in manuscript'

" ' Read it, then.'

" I was silent.

"'Read it'

" ' Will your Excellency send away the Chief of Police,
in whom I do not wish to place confidence.'

" And when he had gone out while Benavides threw
glances upon me that threatened death, as if I ought to
pay for his bad education, which made him a third party, I
read my factum in a clear expressive voice, pausing upon
each conception that 1 wished to make salient, giving force
to those ideas which I wished to make penetrate my audi-
tor. When I had finished reading, which had put me into
a state of cxaltatiou, I raised my eyes, and read in the
countenance of the chief — indifference ! Not one single
idea had penetrated his soul, nor had a suspicion arisen in
it His will and his anihition were a cuirass which de-
fended his heart and his intellect

" Benavides is a cold man : and to this San Juan owes hav-
ing been less abused than the other provinces. He has an
excellent heart and is tolerant ; envy has little part in his
mind ; he is patient and tenacious. Afterwards I reflected
that reason is impotent in a certain state of culture ; its
edges are blunted and slip over those smooth and hardened
surfaces. Like the generality of men in our countries, be

332 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.

has no clear coDSciousness of law or of justice. I have
heard him say. candidly, that the province would ne\-er do
well till it had no lawyers, that his comrade Ibarra lived
tranquilly, and governed well, because he alone, in two
cases out of three, decided all causes. Bosas has his best
support in Benavides : it is the force of inertia in exercise,
calling everything to be quiet and dead, without violence
and without parade. The province of San Juan is, with
the exception of La Rioja, San Luis, and some other cities,
one that has fallen lowest, because Benavides has im-
pressed upon it his materialism, his inertia, his abandon-
ment of all that constitutes public life, which is just what
despotism requires. The people eat, they sleep, they talk,
they laugh if they can, — and keep quiet, that in twenty
years hence, their sons may walk on four feet

" Benavides had no minister then ; all the Federals
avoided him, and he alone, with the aid of his troops, car*
ried on his insane designs. Thus men in power take the
name of the people to call themselves governments, alter
they have degraded and abused them ! He had made one
Espinosa, a drunken Tucunian, though a valiant fellow, chief
of his forces ; and one Herrera, a Chilian bandit, taken out
of prison, and a comic actor whom I had hissed in lie
theatre, were called into the service, the latter as captain ;
the Indian Saavedra. an assassin and highwayman, was
another. Juan Fernandez, a young man of good family who
had voluntarily descended into the rabble where he passed
his time in intoxication and gambling, the most despicable
and despised creature then in San Juan, was his mde-de-
camp. An Italian impostor, corrupt, clownish, and igno-
rant, was made mayor. Under the orders of these chiels,
the scoriie of society, many obscure young men of good
intentions, but ignorant and from the lowest orders of soci-
ety, had been called into the service. Some of them,

ABRESTED BY BENA7IDF.S. 333

even from that bad school, turned out good members
of society, however. Finally, I was summoned a fourth
time to the government house. This time I was prepared,
I knew that a terrible blow was to be inflicted, and that 1
was the appointed victim. It was Sunday, and 1 had taken
leave of some friends at home half in jest and half in
earnest, and written down that m,v life was in danger. I
obeyed the summons, however, taking with me a servant
who could give information of my imprisonment should
that event occur. I met on the way one of my friends,
and resisted his prayers and supplications that I would not
present myself

" ' They are going to arrest you ; everything is prepared.'

" ' Let me alone ; Bcnavides has sent for me by an
aide-de-camp, and I should be ashamed not to answer the
call.'

"They arrested me! And at oration, when the guard
presented itself that was to take me to the prison, the
noise of swords made my nerves thrill j there was a hum-
ming in my ears, and 1 was afraid ! Death, which I be-
lieved my doom at that moment, looked to me sad, dis-
graceful, guilty ; and 1 had not the courage to accept it in
that character. Kotliing happened then, however, except
that 1 was fastened into my dungeon with shackles.' The
days passed, and the mind habituated itself to conquer its
anxieties and disenchantment, as the eyes habituated them-
selves to the darkness- 1 was a passive victim, and except
my family, no one seemed to care for my fate. My cause
was no one's but my own. 1 suffered because I had been
indiscreet, because I had desired to attack the evil without
possessing the means to attack it ; to material facts I op-
posed protests, and solitary abnegation, and the facts took
their own course in spite of me.

" On the night of the 17th of November, at two io the

334 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.

morning, a group of horsemeo parading in front of the
prison, cried out, ' Death to the Unitarios.' So without
antecedents was that cry, so coldly and composedly did it
proceed out of the moutlis of those who pronounced it,
that it was evident that it was a thing arranged and agreed
upon dispassionately. 1 understood perfectly that there
was some liesign ou foot. At four o'clock tlie same thing
was repeated. I was awake, writing some foolish thing
which kept me entertained. At dawn, an Andalusian was
brought into the prison who pretended to be drunk, and in
the midst of repartees and laughable jokes, designed to
distract the attention of tlie scDtinels, in passing me, mak-
ing an evolution round another prisoner who was with me,
he let fall short phrases — 'They are going to assassinate

ibem. The troops are coming into the square ■ The

commandant Espinosa is going to lance Seilor Sar-

miento ! Save yourself if you can ! '

" This time I was equal to the situation. I sent home a
boy, wrote to the bishop that he must not be frightened,
and that he must try by his presence to save me ; but the
poor old man did just the contrary ; he -was frightened,
and his legs would not hold him up. The troops came
and formed in the square ; the boy who stood at the door
of the dungeon in the character of a telegraph, coaimuui-
cated to uie all the movements. Some cries were heard
in the square, and there was much running of horses, I
saw the laiice of Espinosa pass by. There was a moment
of silence, and soon eighty officers collected in a group
near the prison, crjing, ' Bring down the prisoners ! ' The
officer of the guard came to me and ordered me to go out.

" ' By whose order ? '

" ' By Commandant Espinosa's.'

" ' I do not obey.'

" He then passed on to the next cell, and brought out

FACE TO FACE WITH DEATH. 385

Oro and exhibited him. But on seeing him they cried,
' Come down ! Not he ! Sarmiento ! '

" • Go then,' I said to myself, ■ there is no way of getting
excused here.' I went out and was saluted with a hur-
rah of threats and insults by mea who did not know me,
with the exception of two who had reason to detest
me.

" ' Come down ! Come down ! Crucify him.'

" ' I do not obey ! You have no right to send for me."

"'Officer of the guard, strike him down with your

" ' Go down,' said the latter to ine with his sword up-
lifted.

" ' I do not obey,' I said, taking hold of the iron railing.

" ' Go down ! ' and he struck me with his sword.

" • I do not obey,' I repeated quietly.

"'Give him the edge!' cried E s pi nosa, foaming with
rage. 'If he slays up there, I will pierce him with my
lance, Mr. officer of the guard.'

" ' Go down, sir, for God's sake,' said the good official in
a low voice, ashamed, in spite of himself, and half weep-
ing ; while he discharged blows upon me with his sword.
' I shall give you the edge, indeed I shall,'

" ' Do what you please,' I said. ' I do not obey.'

" Some cries of alarm from two windows in the square
from voices which were known to me, on seeing that sword
rise and fall, had disturbed me a little. But I wished to
die as I had lived, as I had awom to live, witliout even
willfully consenting to violence. Besides, I must humbly
confess that I had a little stratagem in reserve. I had
ascertained that Benavides was not in the square, and this
datum had enabled me rapidly to arrange my plan of de-
fense. The railing of the City Hall steps was really my
t*ble of safety. ' The troops have come to the square,' I

336 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.

siud to myself. ' Now Benavides has a part in this affair,
but he is not here, in order to refer this outrage to the
Federal enthusiasm, as Rosas called the assassination of
Mana, which he denounced as ' an atrocious license in a
moment of profound and immense popular irritation.'
The prison is in a straight line, a square and a half from
Benavides' house. Sound runs so many leagues a minute,
and to go two hundred and twenty-five yards required only
a second of time. In vain would the Governor have
wished to wash his hands of that anonymous outrage, for
here was I in a high and respectable place to send the
crime to its source and origin. The servants of Benavides
house, one of his scribes, and his aide-de-camp, ran on see-
ing the sword glisten as it revolved in the air over my
head, and one after another, as they ran into the house,
shrieked, ' Sir ! sir ! they are killing Don Domingo ! ' I
had then caught my cunning gaucho in his own net
Either he confessed himself an accomplice, or he would
send the order to leave me in peace. Benavides had not
courage at that time to take that responsibility ; my blood
would have been distilling over his heart drop by drop all
the rest of his life !

"When the furies who cried 'come down,' were con-
vinced that 1 would not die under the hoofs of the horses,
it being my pleasure to do that in a decent and clean
place, ten or twelve rushed up the steps, and catching me
in their arms, carried me down, at the moment when a
dozen hussars whom Espinosa had sent for to despatch
me, had arrived at the spot. But Espenosa wished to see
my face and to terrify me. The comic actor whom I
hissed in ttie theatre, made captain of the Confederacy,
held his sword at my breast with his eyes fixed on
Espinosa, ready at a signal to thrust it into me. The
coratnandant whirled his lance and pricked me on my side,

IK PBI80N. 337

uttering blasphemies. I kept my countenance composed,
stereotyped, just as I wished it to look after death. Espi-
nosa pricked harder, but my countenance remained impassi-
ble, if I might judge by tbe rage it inspired him with, for
recovering his lance, he gave me a horrible thrust. The
blade was half a yard long and the widtii of a hand, and I
presen-ed for many a day the scar which was left on my
wrist fay my effort in vrresting it out of my side. Then
the brute prepared to satiate his mocking rage. I, in-
spired by the sentiment of self-preservation, and calcu-
lating that it was time for Benavides' aide-de-camp to
arrive, raised my hand over my head and said imperiously,
■Listen! Commandant,' and a.s he lent his attention, I
turned round, thrust myself under the gallery to get round
the other side of the horses, and as I arrived at the end
they fell upon me. I warded off a cloud of bayonets with
both hands, and at that moment the Governor's aide arrived
with orders to suspend the farce, consenting only that they
should shave me, as they had done to many others. If he
had not permitted some punishment. Espinosa would have
wholly lost the dominion of his passions, and I should not
have had sufficient coolness to pull off the mask uuder
which Benavides wished to hide himself They put me
into the lowest dungeon, and then occurred a scene
which doubled the terror of the people : my mother and
two of my sisters defied the guards, ascended the steps ;
they were seen to go in and out of the empty cells, then
descended like a vision, and rushed to the house of Bena-
vides to demand the son, the brother ! O, the agonies
that despotism inflicts !

" What passed next many know, but it waa not I who
supplicated or gave satisfaction I for on no day of that
trial did I belie the severity of my principles nor did my
spirit flag again. One thing in regard to this event I will

388 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.

record here for the benefit of those who despdr of due
punishment being meted out to crimes committed with
impunity ten years ago. The perpetrators of that bloody
fhrce. all without one exception, have died a bloody death.
A fntnl ball struck Espinosa at Angaco. Acho. coming
suddenly into the street one dark night, fired a few shots
nut of mere wantonness into the square, and the comic
actor, who hoped for Espinosa's signal to stab me, fell
dead from his horse ; the Indian Saavedra, who had given
iiiB a thrust, was assassinated. And the crippled gaucho
Femandez, who wallowed in drunkenness and dissipation,
If he yet lives, it is to show who was the Governor's adju-
tant in those days of madness and infamy. Like my
mother, I believe in Providence ; and Barcena. Gaetan,
Salomon, and all the Mashorqueros (thugs) assassinated by
each other, or sentenced by him who had put the dagger
into their bands, devoured by remorse, desperation, deli-
rium, and the contempt of men, tormented by epilepsy or
wasted by consumption, have made me hope yet for
the end which will adjust all things. Rosas is already in
despair I Ills body is a skeleton, trembling and disjointed.
The venom of his soul is corroding the vase which holds It,
and you will soon hear it crack, that his putrescent exist-
ence may give place to the rehabiUtation of morality and
justice, and to the sentiments of humanity compromised
for so many years. Woe, then, to those who have not re-
pented of their crimes! The greatest punishment that
can be inflicted upon them is to live, and I wish to inflict
upon all, without exception, this punishment.

"My residence of four var-^ in San Juan — and this is the
only epoch of my adult lite that 1 have resided in my own
country — was a continuous and obstinate combat. I, like
others, wished to elevate myself, and the least concession
on my part would have opened to me the door to the

EIILE. 339

admioistra^on of Benavides, and to a place in his army. He
desired it, and in the beginning had a great esteem for
me ; but I wished to rise in the norld without sinning
against morality or committing crimes against liberty and
civilization. Public balls, societies, masquerades, theatres,
I was always at the head of; to the growing ignorance I
opposed colleges 1 to the crime of governing withoot law
or justice 1 replied with a periodical ; against the attempt
to suppress such a publicaUon illegally, I gave my person
to the prison i against the holding of extraordinary powers
I advocated by speech and writing the right of petitioning
the representatives in order to make them fulfill their
duty ; to intimidation I opposed firnmess and contempt i to
the knife of the I8th of November, an impassible counte-
nance, and patience under mocking impositions and igno-
ble deceit. Everything that is evil has been said of me,
and some evil has been believed of me in San Juan ; but
no one has ever doubted my honor or my patriotism, and
I appeal for the truth of this to the testimony of those .
who have chosen to call themselves my enemies, I lived
honorably, making an efficient workman by means of some
rudiments of practical geometry and the art of drawing
up plans which I acquired in my childhood. Forced by
want of lawyers, I defended some causes; and when Dr.
Aberastaiu was supreme judge of Alzada, and my intimate
friend, I tost before his tribunal the two most important
ones. If this docs not testify to my legal capacity, it at
least shows the incorruptibility of the judge."

The next day, on passing through the baths of
Zonda into exile, and turning his back upon all the
comforts and pleasures of life, he ivrote with a piece
of cliarcoal, with the hand covered with the scars of
bis late encounter, that noble protest which he quotes
in the prologue to " Civilization and Barbarism " —

mn BIOGBAPHICAI, SKETCH.

" Onne tue pat let td^et ! "

A» English writer says of this : —

" Let those acquainted with Seiior Sarmiento say whether
he has fulfilled hb mission. There is in these few words
a satire which lelh volumes. It brands his enemies with
ignorance, at the same time that it is extremely ludicrous
and cutting. It is not too much to say that less interest-
ing anecdotes than this have appeared in D'lsraeli's ' Curi-
osities of Lilcnturc.' " '

Again he emigrated to Chili, thought seriously of
establishing himself there, and had the intention of
opening a college, hut one of Iiis compatriots dissuaded
him from it, and fucihtated liis writing for the periodic
press, IJy way of experiment, he sent from Santiago to
the only journal of Chili, the " Valparaiso Mercury," an
anonymoun article signed " A Lieutenant of Artillery,"
ui>on tliv battle of Ciiacabuco, which attracted notice
in litorary and jKilitical society by its freshness of style
and elttvntion of thought.

A mutual jealousy of each other's glory has always
I)revaik'd among the States of South America, occa-
sioned by their I'ft'orts to establish themselves as dis-
tinct nations, with more definite limits than any
preWously suggested by their geography or by the
history of their war for inde|>endence. This Jealoosy
has often led to the jwrversion of history, and, at the
time we are considering, Chili had well-nigh erased
firom her records tlio glorious name of San Martin,
and thrust into the background the share of the Ar-
gentines in the battles of Chacabuco and Maypo, which
decided the establishment of Chilian independence.

> ffinr PkU Magatiiu. Ko. i, p«g« Ul.

LITERAET LABOB IN CHILI.

341

The above-mentioned article upon the first of these
battles, followed by another upon the second, roused
the generous sentiments of the people by its pathos,
and earnestly appealed to the justice of the generation
then in full enjoyment of the fruits of the great deeds
whose contemporaries had of necessity received wounds
as well as gifts from the rough hands of war. So
timely was this appeal in behalf of a just claim to
renown obscured by prejudice and malice, that it gained
for its author, hitherto without a name, in two senses,
a position in the unfamiliar theatre in which he had
thus appeared, and for General San Martin the rank
and pay of Captain -General that very year, and sub-
sequently the tokens of gratitude due from a nation to
its liberators, visible to-day in the equestrian statue
erected to his memory in the finest boulevard of San-
tiago, facing the Andes and surrounded by the poplars
which he himself had planted.

The party which was in the Chilian government B.t
this time asked through one of the secretaries the con-
currence of Sefior Sarmiento at the approaching elec-
tion. The first words Don Manuel Montt' said to him,
were, "Ideas, sir, have no country." From that
moment tliey understood each other. I wish I had
space to dehneate the character of Don Manuel Montt.
"My meeting him in the path of my life," says Senor
Sarmiento, in speaking of this gentleman, " gave a new
phase to my existence, and if it attains any noble ends,
I shall owe it to his aid opportunely tendered."

By request he took the editorsliip of the " Mercu-
rio," which he successfully carried through the politi-
cal campaign of that year, and he also founded and

I Then Uiniiter of Slite in Chili.

842 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.

edited the " Kacional " in Santiago. Of course, such
vigorous articles as he wrote upon all subjects provoked
opposition. Even South American apathy was stung
into repartee, and he needed all the steadiness and
calmness of his friend Montt to enable him to bear the
abuse that the " Revista OatoHca " and the " Semi-
nario " heaped upon him, but out of this strife came
many improvements.

In 1841, at the end of the electoral campaign which
secured the triumph of their candidate, he took leave
of Don Manuel Montt and the editorship of the " Mer-
curio " and the " Nacional," to return to fight the battles
of his country. Montt opposed his intention, assuring
him that there was no safety there for him ; that the
situation of Colonel La Madrid, who was bravely op-
posing Rosas, was very critical. But, for that very
reason, SeBor Sarraiento's resolution was irrevocable-
He was determined to offer the aid of his arm in that
cause, and fiimished «'ith a warm letter of introduc-
tion to La Madrid from the Argentine Commission in
Chili, who well knew the value of his assistance, and
accompanied by three other compatriots, he set out on
foot to surmount the Andes and join the General at
Mendoza. After the fearful passage of the mountain
summits was effected, through the peculiar and re-
peated dangers incident to such regions, on descending
the eastern side, his rencontre with his countrymen waa
as distressing as unexpected. He and his little party
saw afar off, like blots upon the interminable wastes of
snow, groups of fleeing soldiers, and looking at each
other in dismay, they could only .exclaim, " Houtedf"
«id Jeen from afar by the fugitives, the latter repeated
he word "routed," across the snows,

ROUT OF LA MADRID'S ABUT. 843

At the foot of the Vacaa, a lofty summit, they found,
in a small hut, the first detachment from Mendoza, and
other sqaads arrived from time to time during the day
from the battle-ground of La Cienega del Medio, find-
ing no shelter but that of the rocks, and no food but
what each one liad brought for himself. Toward night
came the rear-guard with La Madrid himself, accom-
panied by Alvarez and the other chiefs. Many others
having been decapitated at VUspellata, among whom
were the Commandant SagraDa and six other chiefs.
Hundreds had taken refuge in the mountains, and of
these, many were youths of the first families of Bue-
nos Ayres and the northern Argentine Provinces, who
had volunteered with patriotic enthusiasm to resist the
tyrant Rosas. Kot a moment was to be lost if he
would save the lives of his countrymen. SeBor Sar-
miento and bis companions, without waiting to take
rest, retraced their steps over the giant heights to
Aconcagua.

At Log Andes, the first town on the other side of the
mountains, Seilor Sarmiento established himself in the
bouse of a friend, and for twelve hours, with another
friend for his secretary, brought into requisition his
executive abilities, so often tested in bis adventurous
life. That very afternoon he sought, contracted for,
and despatched twelve mountain laborers to the aid
of the exhausted fugitives, purchased, collected, and
despatched six loads of substantial comforts, sent an
express to the Argentine Commission at Santiago to
put them in motion ; wrote to Don Manuel Montt, the
minister, asking for government aid, physicians, and
other help ; a letter to certain friends that they might

344 BIOGEAPHICAL SKETCH.

appeal to public charity ; one to tbe director of the
theatre, to give an entertainment for their benefit, and
an article to tbe " Mercurio " of Valparaiso to alarm
the whole country and awake compassion. When tbe
assistance he had so quickly collected was on the way,
and the various couriers despatched with the letters,
and bis purse emptied to the last maravedi, he was
obliged to seek repose, for he had run down the moun-
tains from Los Ojon de A(/ua to LosAndet witiiout rest-
ing from his previous ascent. Within two daj-s he
received replies from General las Heras and his friends
Gana, Zapata, and Quiroga Rosas, which do honor to
themselves as well as to him. In three days suJHcient
food, medicines, physicians, etc., etc., for a thousand
men, were on their way over the giant heights.

Tlie danger of the transit was increased by threats
of an approaching storm. Those conversant with the
Andes knew by the heavy clouds, always more danger-
ous than the frozen snows, and on this day, unusually
dark and lowering, that it would be of more than ordi-
nary violence. It was easy after the first day to calculate
how many out of the thousand would be frozen before
succor could reach theiu. The subhme but heart-
rending spectacle of the gently falling snow that
covered every rock and quenched every fire that was
kindled, chilled the hopes of the relieving party, but
no one turned back. After tliree days of suffering,
seven of tlie fugitives bad perished, and many others
had lost their limbs by frost before tlie physicians got
to tbe foot of the Cordilleras. An Argentine artist
has immortalized upon canvas tbe scene in which the
first Chilian broke the snow on arriving at the spot.

FCGITIVES IN THE MOUNTAIKS. S45

The heat and shelter of the hut had saved three hun-
dred, a leaning rock had sheltered another hundred,
and their ponchos, by confining the warmth to their
bodies, had saved tlie rest. But- they were neariy
starved. Among the refugees was the famous El
Chacho. who had succeeded Facundo Quiroga in the
chieftainship of the peasantry. He had tiirown him-
self on the side of General La Madrid against Rosas,
but had contributed not a little to the loss of the battle
hj bis rashness and want of discipline. He did not
know, when his life was then saved by the aid of SeiSor
Sarmiento, that twenty years later he and his hordes
would be annihilated by that same deliverer. Like
other peasant chiefs, El Cliacho, who mingled in all
the disputes of the country, sometimes took one side,
sometimes the other, and was now a dangerouse nemy,
and now a dangerous friend, according as his caprices
led him. Sefior Sarmiento somewhere likens this chief-
tain to the Radie» of Arabia, who receive from every
new government some privilege or post, said govern-
ment shutting its eyes to the risk of treachery should
self-interest interpose its claims.

Sefior Sarmiento was tlius thrown back upon Chill,
and his first reception in Santiago was a sad chill
over a dowbly exiled heart. He was charged through
the press with having complained of the hardness of
some of the people while he eulogized the generosity
of others to his unfortunate countrymen, and then of
improper use of the scanty funds he had collected for
their necessities. The man who made the charge was
not a compatriot, nor had he contributed, nor did he
know how the money was apjiropriated, and must have

846 BIOOKAFBICAL BEETCH.

inrented the slander with what Mr. Sarmiento called
the " most exquisite evil intention." General Laa
Heru answered tlie charge and vindicated him, ^' bat
for a long time," he says, " 1 was frightened by that
(rratuitouB and spontaneous act of depravity, and frozen
by it as if a jar of cold water had been poored over
me."

He soon resumed the editorship of the "Mercurio,"
and one of the most active, most agitated, and most
fruitful phases of his life — fruitful to himself and to
othen> — ensued. Every interest of society responded
to his touch.

He endeavored to organize primary instruction for '
the [jcople — an idea that had never dawned upon the
Chilian mind.

The proposition for a popular tax for education was
well received, but there was no thought of any other
appropriation of it than to educate the upper classes
with it ! Seilor Sarmiento put the new idea into actual
operation for the people. The newspaper he established
was the first ever edited in Santiago, the residence of
learned and literary Chilians. He wrote the first
flpelling-book in wiijcli the correct sounds of the Span-
ish alphabet were given, and which was afterwards
printed in the United States and illustrated with vig-
nettes ; banished from the schools such books as " The
Temporal and Eternal," "The Pains of Hell," and
others of a similar character, fit only to mislead the
minds of youth and imbue them with false ideas, and
replaced them with " The Life of Jesus Christ," " Mo-
rality in Deed and Life," " The Conscience of a Child,"
"Tho Life of Franklin," "The Why, or the Science

NORMAL SCHOOL m CRILI. 347

of Things," etc., etc. He presented to the university
of Chili the first paper upon orthography that ever saw
the light in Spanish America, where the language had
become sadly corrupted ; founded tlie " Monitor for
Schools," a large periodical in which he treated in a
masterly manner the most difBcult questions upon
popular education, stimulating the teachers and de-
fending them against arbitrary acts and stupid decrees.
This periodical lie wished to call by a more compre-
hensive title, which should commend it to the pemsal
of all classes, of literary men as well as of school-
masters, but this was thought too pretentious by the
government, in whose name everything was done, with-
out rendering any credit to the real author of books
or measures, because indeed he was a foreigner ! Not
till long after he left the country, when the editorship
of this valuable work was resumed after an interval of
many years, was his name ever publicly mentioned in
connection with it. This tardy recognition saved the
credit of the country, hut Seuor Sarmiento did not
have its aid in the difficult days when he made bricks '
without straw.

It was at this period, 1842, that he founded tlie first
Normal School that was opened on this side the Atlan-
tic. For three years he directed it in person, and it is
remarkable to observe, that unaided and alone he
thought out and put in oractice all those methods of
instruction most approved by advanced minds at the
present day. Indeed, it was living instruction such as
we can hardly boast in our days of text books, when
the mine from which the teaching is done is not always
in the mind of the teacher. Seflor Sarniieiito had few

348 BIOGRAPHICAL SEETCH.

text-books, nor did lie need them. Everything he
taught was practically illustrated and embellished from
the vast stores of his varied acquirements.

Don Jose Suarez, hi.s Chilian biograplier, describes
his methods of instruction minntely. He dwells much
upon his moral influence, which was of the noblest kind.
He says of him in this relation : —

" Sarmiento always treated us as friends, inspiring us
with tliat respectful confidence which makes a superior so
dear. He was always ready to favor us and to help us in
our misfortunes : he often despoiled himself of his own
garments to give them to his pupils, the greater part of
whom were poor. He often invited us to accompany him
in his afternoon walks in order to ^ve us importance in
the eyes of others, and to comfort our hearts by encour-
agement It was my happiness often to accompany him to
the Convent of la Dominica, and to other places. He
always gave us his arm in lliese walks. Wiien he returned
from Europe in 1847. he who traces these remembrances,
on the occasion of risiting him at his place of residence,
was presented with all tlie etitiuette of fiishion. and as if
he were a distinguished man, to the Minister of the In-
terior, Don Manuel Montt, who had come to welcome him
home. In our career of schoolmaster, we do not remem-
ber that the hand of so distinguished a Chilian ever
touched our humble one as on that occasion. We had
previously been presented to the SeiSor General La&-
Heras, Dr. Ocampo, and other Argentines of importance,
who visited Sarmiento. He treated his pupils tlius, not
because we were individually worthy of the honor, but to
give importance to our profession, then humiliated, calum-
niated, and despised.^ But he himself, in spite of his

1 Hot lea jean before the rooodatioD of the formal School, (he C«iir

EDITOE 07 PKKI0DICAL3.

849

learning and his influential relatives, was called by the
disdainful epithets of clerk and tchoolmasUr, and was in-
sulted eveiy day lo his face by the supcrciilutis Chilians,
my compatriots ! "

Don Jos^ is partially right in sayinfj this. In
1843 he founded and edited the periodical called " E!
Progreso," the first paper that had ever been printed
in Santiago de Chili, the residence of learned Chilians.
He also edited the "Argentine Herald," in behalf of
his countrymen, unjustly abused by Rosas. Envy,
jealousy, hatred, prejudice, and Ill-will were his por-
tion for a long time, growing out of Ins active effort
to ameliorate evils. Rival papers heaped abuses upon
him ; he was sensitive to blame ; liis ])alriotic heart
was doubly sore with the repeated and apparently in-
curable miseries of his country ; the word /oreiffner,
when applied to him, was a dagger in a heart like his
that was ready to toil for his adopted country as if it
were his own. The impetuosity of his nature was not
yet softened even into apparent concession to a present
evil. He was unceremonious in speaking the trnth,
and the truth is the sharpest of swords to the evil
disposed or the apathetic. There was no peace for
any one in his sphere who stood in the way of the re-
forms which he felt to be vital lo the verj' existence of
civili7.ed society, certainly to the continuance of tree
governments in those onhs^py conntries. lie did oot
make personal attacks, but the strife of pens wued

ef Santiago had csndenincil t robbar who fa«d nsUn tin caaddabn of Uu

Tir^n ia the Cbimb of San Jtrrad,

CopiapQ (o¥ lb* uno ot Ihn* jtatt," u tbtj woold hat*

to b« ibipfti M to labor it

350 BIOGEAPHICAL SKETCH.

hot, and sach was the exasperation of his mind that
one daj, as he describes it, —

" It Uiucbed opon delirium ; I ns frantic, demented,
and conceived tlie sublime idea of castigatiDg all ChiU ;
declaring it ungrateful, infiunous, vile. I wrote I know
not what diatribe, put my name to it. and carried it to the
preaa of ' el Frogreso,' giving it directly into the hands of
the compoMtora. I then returned home in silence, loaded
my putols, and awaited the expioson of the'mine I had
laid for my own destruction, but I felt avenged, and satis-
fied that I had achieved a great act of justice- Nations, I
■aid to myselC may be criminal, and are so at times, and
there is no judge who can punish them adequately but
their own tyrants or their own writers. I complained of
the President, of Monti, of the Viales, in order that no
one should escape my justice ; and to the writers and the
pablic in general I tald horrible, humiliating truths, enough
to rouse the indignation of a whole city, till beside itself
with anger it should demand the head of the audacious
one who could so insult iL

" From this certain danger I was saved by the kindness
of Don Jacobo Vial, to whom the frightened compositors
had shown' my manuscript Don Antonio came to my
bouse looking very sad, and spoke to roe in the gentle and
compassionate voice with which one is wont to address a
lunatic. No sign of displeasure or of resentment appeared
in his countenance.

" ' Don Domingo,' he said, ' the printers have shown me
the article you left with them this morning.'

" ' I hear you.'

" ' Have you considered the consequence* ? '

" ' Perfectly,' looking at my pistols.

"' It is useless.'

" ■ I know It ; leave me in peace ! '

TRIALS IN CniLI. S51

" ' Has Lopez seen it ? '

" ' No.'

" Don Antonio took his hat and went to Lopez and to
the minister, to advise Don Manuel Montt of what I had
done. Lopez came nnd made me consent that he should
see the article, and ernse some words. This was at three
in the afternoon ; at twelve that night, Don Antonio
brought me a note from Lopez in which he told me that
he had given up erasing words, for this was making con-
cessions ; that if I insisted upon publishing the article in
spite of tbe disapprobation of my friends, I should immedi-
ately take a post-chaise and escape to Valparaiso.

" Lopez, with his usual sagacity, had touched the chord
that would make me yield. First, he did not oppose me
arbitrarily, because that will not answer with the demented^
Secondly, be disapproved of me, and that made an im-
pression. Thirdly, he showed me that it would be weak-
ness to soften my phrases, and he knew I would not
consent to show weakness. Fourth, he pointed out U>
me what way to flee, and this humbled me. No. I did
not understJind tbe thing thus ; if I wounded them to the
death I would stay and take the consequences.

" The pillow came to bring me its counsels, if not slum-
ber. Very early the next day the minister sent for me ;
he spoke to me of indifferent things, of the Nonnal
School, of 1 know not what common topics. At last he
circumspectly touched the wound, enforcing himself by
applying the balsam and pointing out to me how many
persons esteemed me and treated me with distinction in
compensation for these vulgar injuries which had no evil
consequences. 1 replied ; was very exalted in my reply,
then paused, and at the moment when I was about to lose
all tiie respect due to the minister and tbe friend, the door
was opened by Don Miguel de la Barra, who either by

352 BIOGBAPHKUL SKETCH.

•ocidfiit or intentjoo^ anived at Ae
prevetit a tcaadaL

« ThiM tliat ChOi iriiidi I wUbed to dreaa in state's
on garments (ensambenitar), to diq>laj its crimes
smiel J to the public gaze, showed me at the very
irirtues worth j of re^^ect, a delicacy and infinite toleration,
and proofi( of sjmpathj and appreciadon which made llie
suicide I had prepared for mjself whoUj unjustifiafaie.
From that time the public and the writer understood tmA
other recjprocaUj. That learnt to be tc^erant, and to do
justice to good intentioDs, and I habituated mjself to look
at it as a necessary part of my existence, and ndther to
fear its anger nor to provoke it I am now unanimously
acknowledged to be a good and loyal Chilian. But woe to
him who persbted in calling me 9^ foreigner ! It was safe
for him to emigrate to California."

In 1845 he wrote the lives of the Presbyter Bal-
maceda, of Colonel Pereira, of the Senator Gtuida-
rillas, of Facundo Quiroga (three editions of the latter
were published, and though proscribed by Rosas, to-
gether with his other works, was largely read in the
Republic), the life of the priest Castro y Barros, and
of General San Martin. At this epoch he united with
the celebrated Garcia del Rivera, in the editorship of
the " Museum of both Americas."

Don Manuel Montt saved SeHor Sanniento more
than once from rash acts. When he gave up the edi-
torship of the " Progreso " the first time, because he
could not bear the criticisms upon it, he said to him in
his quiet, commanding way, " You must write a book
upon what you wish, and confound them ; " thus restor-
ing him to his own self-reliance. When he thought of

ECEOPEAN TOUH. 353

going to Bolivar, under whom lie had been promised
place, Montt decidedly opposed it; he told him it
would look like a defeat (for he had again resigned
the post of public writer to escape persecution) ; he
said Bolivar's cause was like a game of cards — "and
did you not think of going to Europe? " The Euro-
pean expedition was decided upon, and when he took
leave of his friend, the latter said to him, " You will
return to your own country according to present ap-
pearances ; if you ever wish to return to Chili, you
shall take any place you wish. Undeceive yourself;
these enmities which trouble you are wholly upon the
surface. No one despises you, many esteem you."

" Such a statesman," to use the words of Seflor Sar-
iniento, in speaking of this true and appreciative friend,
whose words on their first meeting were, " Sir, ideas
are of no country," " can, hke Deucalion, make men
out of stones. In Europe his letters followed me every-
where, even more constantly than those of my own
family, and in every one was a suggestion of some
point to be studied, or a hope that I should do such or
such a thing, which hope M-as a sure indication that I
would do it."

Colonel Sarmiento's " Travels in Europe, Algiers,
and America," are full of lively pictures of all that is
most interesting and instructive to observe in other
lands. He studied not only education, but legislation,
and all llie nations he visited seemed to yield up to hia
well-prepared inspection the secret of their being for
evil or for good. In France he saw and conversed
with Thiers, Guizot, and Humboldt, and was made a
member of the Historical Society. He visited Spain

354 BIOGKAPHICIL SEETCa.

at the moment wbea ibe Duke of Montpensier entered
Madrid to marry the Infiuita. The Spanish nation
were averse to this marriage, and though thej treated
the Doke with conrtear and oSered bim no insult, it
was easv to see their want of STmpathj. The andeot
qJeodors of the national customs were invoked to cover
thi« wotuid to their national pride. Roval bull-figfats,
which always take the Spanish people off their feet,
were instituted with the most gorgeous displays, and
the spectacles brought out all the Argentine poetri' and
the native brilliancy of oar antbor's pen.

Senor Sanuiento's insight into the sorrows and evils
of Spain was undoubtedly such as few travellers were
prepared to exercise, and he saw very plainly that the
Spain of to-day was the Spain of three centuries ago.
More interesting to him than all the remains and the
momentary resuscitation of ancient splendor, was his
interview with Cobden in Barcelona, which he most
describe in his own words, for the impulse it gave to
his life and labors was very great, giving him a method
which he has since used with great effect to breathe
the breath of life into the apathetic children of the
Spanish colony, that incabus upon the souls of men.

COBDEN.

" Barcelona. Here 1 have had the felicity of being pre-
lented to Cobden, the great English agitator, and I assure
you that after Napoleon there is no man I so much wished
to see. Tou know the long struggle of the league against
the corn-laws in England, a glorious stni^le of ratiocina-
tion, discussion, speech, and will, which unrooted the Eng-
lish aristocracy, sapping at the base its power over the land,

INTERTIEW WITH COBDEN. 355

which it possesses by the right of primogeniture, and leav-
ing it alive, that it may bleed to death by degrees, make
itself one with the people, and yield its power without vio-
lence when its weakened hands can no longer manage it.
Since the days of Jesus Christ, this simple method of prop-
agating a doctrine by the mere use of speech, had not been
put in practice. The Catholics who came afler Christ
continued preaching, it is true, but from time to time they
burned their opponents, and the wars of religion have inun-
dated the earth with blood. The principles of liberty had
not till now gone forth from that s-nd soil, liberty and the
guillotine, emancipation of the people and conquest Cob-
den rehabilitated ancient preaching, the apostleship with-
out the martyrdom. Some millions of pounds sterling,
collected by subscription, supported that war of words for
eight years. Nine million tracts did those batteries of
logic and argument throw out in 1 843, alone, and some two
thousand meetings as sham-fights, and sixteen monster-
' meetings, field battles that threw into the shade by the
brilliancy of their results the useless ones of Jena, Auster-
litz, and Marengo, ended in delivering up the keys of the
English parliament to Cobden. who dictated from that
Kremlin to the aristocracy the capitulation which suffered
it to remain with its baggage, ammunition, flags, and posi-
tions, provided it would let as much wheat enter England
as the people needed for bread. With Cobden began a
new era for the world ; the word again made itself flesh,
producing of itself alone the greatest effects, and henceforth
when men wish to know if it is possible to destroy an
abuse protected by power, defended by riches, rank, and
corruption, when they ask if there is any hope of over-
throwing such abuse by means of persevering efforts and
sacrifices, the name of Cobden will be remembered, and
the work will be undertaken.

356 BIOGBAPBICAL SKETCH.

'■ YoQ imagine Cobdeti a lively, caustic O'Connell. an
enthusiast, ardent in politics, rapid, startling in reply?
How you deceive yourself, my poor Victorino ! He is per-
fectly simple, fastidious like an Englishman, calm as an
axiom, cold, vulgar, if I may si> express it, like ail great
truths. We were friends in two hours ; we talked alone
almost all night ; he related to me hb adventures, his
struggles ; he showed me his mode of action, the strategy
of his speech, the little stories with which it was necessary
to entertain the people that they might not go to sleep as
they listened to him. He lamented the almost insupera-
ble difficulty which the masses offer by their incapacity
of comprehending and their prejudices. Ue gave me a
card by which I could find him in Manchester, and we did
not separate till we reached the door of my hotel, I ovei^
whelmed with happiness, humbled by such greatness ami
such simplicity, meditating upon means so noble and re-
sults so gigantic. I did not sleep that night. 1 was id a
fever. It seemed to me that war was about to become
ridiculous when that system of aggregation of wills and
juxtaposition of masses could be so generalized and put
into practice to destroy abuses, governments, laws, and
institutions.

" What more simple thing ! To-day we are two, to-
morrow four, next year a thousand, publicly united in the
same design. The government will reust? It b because
we are not many, because many more remain in favor of
the abuse. Then let the preachiDg come on. and the
pamphlets, the daily papers, the association, the league.
The Government and the Chambers know the day and the
hoar in which they are conquered, — and yield I Go and
plant such a beautiful system ia America !

■'Cobden had destroyed, or attacked before commencing
lut qiecific work, all the great principles on which the

SEXOR SARMIENTO IN EUROPE.

357

science of the government reposed. The European equi-
librium (balance of power), declared him a maniac thus to
perplex the ministers by mixing up foreign affairs with
theirs. The colonies were the only means of furnishing
employment to the younger sons of the lords. The com-
mercial balance was the rettime of ignorance in political
economy, and politics, with all its pretensions of science,
was the charlatanism of dunces and blackguards ; protec-
tion of natural industry an innocent means of stealing
money on the wing, ruining the consumer, and turning the
protected manufacturer into the street For all these
truths, hitherto considered fundamental, he substituted good
sense, the common sense of all men, more fit to judge than
the interested science of lords and ministers."

In Sfiain, Sefior Sarmiento was made a member of
the Literary Society of Professors, and published in
Madrid a paper against the projected expedition of
General Flores, whose object it was to found a mon-
archy in South America, of which the natural son of
Queen Christina was to be the head. This document
opened many eyes by its exhaustive investigation of
the subject. The expedition was given up.

In England, Seiior Sarmiento found the English
reprint of Mr. Mann's Report of his educational tour
in Europe. He came to the United States ailer his
own more extended one, sought out Mr. Mann, and
become acquainted, through his aid, with the common-
school system of Massachusetts, which on his return to
Chili be introduced there with great effect. He em-
bodied his observations npim education in Europe and
America in a noble work on " Popular Education."

Wlien in Paris he^ii^d studied the art of silk-cu|ture

fSB BIOGKATHICAL SKETCB-

^aitt the ekier Mmido, the fint uitboritj in the
world, ana oa hH nto^ to CliiH be taoKled tke
** Amencan SiOtirrowm^ Sodetr," Sat wlkOM we he
JDtmdDced St his own expense the best nactanies wai
Otoer Dteasfla, aseOi, sim. .-joms known in Eonwe.

in IMd be began ine pnUicatxin of " Ldi Croatcn,** n
periodical which cooisiiu the onlj antfaeniic ciJlectioB
of docoments in Sooth America upon the snbfect of
immigration, a canae whtcb he had indnstriooslT pro-
moted ivnce 1839, when his aneotion fint became fixed
npon its advantages. On each one of the topics be
treated, a law was proposed, and even Rosas established
a periodical in Mendoza to combat it. Rosas could
hardlj have been punished more eSectnallr for his ill-
treatment c^ Senor Sarmiento than he unceasingly was
by the liberal views c^ government and the intense activ-
ity of that patriotic gentleman. It was at this time that
the gratefiil letter he wrote to liis old fiiend and deliv-
erer Ramirez, grateful for past services and confident
of continued friendship, but which contained his char-
acterization of Rosas, was shown by that apostate friend
to the tyrant, thus perpetuating his banishment indeG-
nitely.

In 1850 he wrote " Argiropolis, or the Capital of the
Confederate States,"' in which he proposed a new cajri-
tal instead of Buenos Ayres ; and the " RecoUectiona
of a Province."

In 1851 he published the " South America," another
periodical, and his " Travels ; " also a " Memorial of
German Emigration," which was reviewed and highly
commended by Dr. Wappaus, professor of geography
and statistics in the University of Gottingen.

RESIDENCE I.?f BDEMOS ATEES. 359

BOENOS AYEE3.

Thus prepared, and matured by stady, experience,
travels in foreign lands, and years of beneficent ac^oii
in a true cosmopolitan spirit, he left Chili in 1851 with
the present President, Colonel Mitre, and the present
General Paunero, to incorporate himself in the army
of General Urquiza, who was about to open tlie cam-
paign against Rosas. The battle of Caseros, which
disposed of Rosas, took place on the third of Februaryi
1852. and Sefior, now. Colonel Sarmiento, had the
pleasure of writmg a description of it upon tlie tyrant's
own table with the tyrant's own pen. Six days afler,
he left Urquiza's army, for he saw that that old
servant of Rosas meant no good to the country, but
purposed to make himself a tyrant in Rosas' place.
DurquiS had been made President, who fell in with
Urquiza's plans. The event proved that his prophecy
was right, though Urquiza was not wholly successful.

He left a note for Urquiza, in which he told him it
was his profound conviction that he was entering upon
a thorny path, dissipating sooner or later, but not less
fatally, the glory which for a moment had hung round
his name.

Colonel Sanniento returned to Chili, this time a
voluntary exile. He went By way of Rio Janeiro,
and passed a few weeks in close intimacy with its
enlightened Emperor, who had read and admired his
works and received him with much distinction. The
Emperor had made an alliance with the Republic, to
which he had formerly been opposed, and wished to
converse with Colonel Sarmiento upon its status and
its prospects.

In October, 1852; ht wrote a jKapUeC iqion San
JoaOt its flMO, sod iti arts in the refenentioD of the
Bepobfie ; the festonlion of Benarides and the
peofie^ conduct towards him. When elected br San
Jnan Depotj to the Ii ational Congress, wfaicfa office
be decfined, be-poUisbed a letter to Generd Urqeiza
gnring bis reasons, and sobseqnenthr a pamphlet en-
titled ^ Conrention of Sanatoolas de los Arreros,^ in
wbicb be treats of the condition of the goremment in
tbe Republic and the reactionarr pdicr of Buenos
Ayres* In 1853 he began to publish the second toI-
ume of ** The Cronica,*' a poKtical and Kteranr peri-
odical, and also his ^ Commentarj on the Constitn-
tion of the Argentine Bepnblic,*' with numerous
documents illustrative of the text. In the following
jear he published a letter to the electors of Boenos
Ajrres, who had chosen him for their deputy, an ap-
pointment which he did not accept.

He finally took up his residence in Buenos Ayres as
a private citizen. In that year he was nominated Dep-
uty to Congress from Tucuman, but did not accept
the nomination for some political reasons. In 1857 he
solicited and obtained tbe direction of the department
of schools, and was also made Councillor of the Muni-
cipality of Buenos Ayres, Durqu^ being still President.
The difficulties which he encountered in carrying out
his purpose of intn4)ducing the North American system
of common schools into Buenos Ayres as a starting-
point, are described in a very graphic and lively man-
ner in a letter to the Seiiora Juana Manso, too long for
insertion here. Three ministries went out, which
mudo the acceptance of his bill the sine qua non of

CBIH" OF DEPARTMENT OF SCHOOLS. 361

their acceptance of the ministry, but after waiting and
working a year in the most indefatigable and perse-
vering manner, and allowing himself to be the subject
of much abuse, he succeeded in setting the matter in
operation, in the midst of intestine pohtical difficulties
of various kinds, invasion by the Indians, attempts at
usurpation, and capture of the city by warlike and
ambitious chiefs, and various modes of opposition to his
views. A resolution had been offered to appro])riate
600 dollars in gold to set in motion all the schools of
Buenos Ayres! He succeeded at last in obtaining
J127,000, and erected a splendid building called the
Model School, which was afterwards emulated in an-
other parish of the city. Monsieur Banvard, the
architect of school-houses in France, said there was not
in all France such architecture, such apparatus, and
such luxury of appliances consecrated to the educa-
tion of the people. The furniture and apparatus were
procured in the United States. In 1860, when he
left Buenos Ayres, there were 17,279 children in the
schools. The Senora Manso had written him in 1864,
that since his departure the number had decreased by
five thousand. To this he replies, that by the natural
increase the number should then have been 35,000,
instead of 12,450, as she reports : —

" I assure you," he says, " that the revelation of so sad a
fact has killed me, and I am tempted to leave behind me
useless honors of position, and present myself again to the
provincial government of Buenos Ayres, saying to it,
' Gi.ve me the department of schools — this is all the
future of the Republic' . . . 'The United States,
with their schools from the beginning, as a basis, have

362 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.

accomplished doubtless, in one century, what all humanity
has been doing and undoing in six thousand years of
history ! The Sovereign People !

" I bid you adieu sadly. 171116, combat, resist A^tate
the waves of a dead sea, whose surface tends to become
hardened with the crust of impurities which escape from
its depths, the Spanish colony, the tradition of Rosas, cows,
cows, cows ! Men, people, nation, republic, future !

" They write me from San Juan that on the twenty-fiftb
of May, if not before, they shall open the Sarraiento School,
a continuation and rejection of the impulse given in Bue-
nos Ayres. It is a monumental structure which would be
considered a good one in Boston or New York, capacious
enough to hold 1,700 children. But I much fear that it is
a body without a soul. The provinces take their inspira-
tion from the capitals. When they throw stones at the
elections in Buenos Ayres. it is hon ion to stab each other
in Rosario. When the attendance of children in the
schools diminishes in cultivated Buenos Ajtes. in a whole
Buenot Ayres, as they say in the provinces, the children in
the mountains will be bom dumb so as not to leam to
spell."

In 1858, after the Model School-house was finished
and opened, and while enthusiasm was at its height
about the schools, Sefior Sarmiento was elected Sen-
ator of the State and Province of Buenos Ayres. He
then proposed in his seat that the lands which Rosas
had usurped, worth a million dollars, should be devoted
to the erection of school-houses throughout the prov-
ince, and a line of splendid structures is now seen
stretching out into the pampas. While Senator, he
also proposed many other bills which finally received
the sanction of law. One was a sentence of impeach-

CHIEF OF THE ARMY OF BE8EETE. 36S

ment against Rosas. Another was the adoption of the
metrical system of weights and measures ; also, a law
of election by ballots, like that of New York and
Maine, voters being previously registered. The adop-
tion of the Commercial Code, which he brought up
three successive years till he was successful ; a law to
punish printed ilandert against individuals, and the
law which transformed the district of Chivilcoi from
barren pampas to a paradise of cultivated farms, were
others.

It was in 1859, as we learn from the " Diario of the
Sessions of Buenos Ayres, 1860," that General Ur-
quiza, then general-in-chief of the army of Buenos
Ayres, made another attempt to usurp the govern-
ment. Colonel Sarmiento had been made chief-of-
Btaff of the army of reserve. Urquiza was resisted
at Cepada, where, however, he gained a partial vic-
tory, the citizens losing their infantry and artillery.
But they fied back to the city to defend it, for em-
boldened by apparent success, Urquiza had dared to
besiege it. He was kept at bay, however, and still
holding the city in terror, listened to proposals for a
treaty which had been made to the government in
1858 by Colonel Sarmiento and others, ex-o£BciaUy.
These were for two conventions, one to be held at
Buenos Ayres to make amendments to the Constitu-
tion, and also a national convention, at which said
amendments should be discussed and either ratified or
rejected. Urquiza now accepted them on three con-
ditions. One of these was to reincorporate into the
■ army all the soldiers who had been dismissed from it
for whatever cause. This included the creatures of

364 BIOQHAPHICAL SKETCH.

Rosaa ; another was that the actual governor. Dr.
Alaini, should he deposed. The force in tJie city was
sufficient to defend it, but there was a panic, and the
estancteros (landed proprietors) and cattle-growers
feared it would be lost ; some intriguers were in the
legislature, and taking advantage of the panic, they
wished to depose tlie governor to please Urquiza, whom
they feared.

Colonel Sarmiento, who was still Senator, was absent
from his ^seat at the moment, visiting one of the forts.
He entered the antechamber of the Senate just as it
had sent the requisition to the Governor to resign. He
demanded the floor, but the President of the Senate
did not grant it ; he persisted in demanding it. and the
sixth time, in spite of much opposition and exclama-
tions, such as, " we are all agreed," he obtained iL
Ho then said that he did not propose to them to revoke
what they had done ; it was too late for that, and
might endanger the situation in the presence of the
enemy, but he wished his name to be recorded as pro-
testing against the act, whicli he designated as a crime ;
and he also proposed that the assembly that had de-
stroyed the executive power should nominate another,
and not leave them without a government. The latter
was assented to, but the former was objected to as
against the rules. It was put to a vote, and eight Joined
him in the protest. When the votes were counted,
eleven voted for it, and that being a majority, their
honor was saved, and the eighth of November is ever
remembered as a nefarious day. In the afternoon they
saw their error.

The result of the treaty was the meeting of both

DEBATES OF CONGRESS.

365

conventions. Colonel S.irmiento had much influence
hi both, and was largely instrumental in bringing about
the desired results, one of M-hich was to incorporate the
province of Buenos Ayres into the Confederacy. He
also made a speech in this Convention of Buenos
Ayres, in opposition to the proposition to have a state
religion, and perfect practical toleration was declared
to every form of opinion. There are now, thanks to
him, as many Protestant as Catholic churches. This
was agreeable to the instincts of Buenos Ayres, which
had always manifested a liberal spirit in this respect.
It needed only the word of a master-spirit to settle the
question forever. The speech was printed at the
time.

The debates of this deliberative assembly have been
published, and from the elevation of the ideas expressed
in them, and from their matter as a model of parlia-
mentary tactics, they bear a character which has
gained for them the reputation of being the most
important documents of the kind extant. Colonel
Sarmiento took the most important part in them. It
has been said by his friends and biographers, that the
most able of his speeches were made in secret session.
It was ever his aim to moderate the spirit of reform,
while he was the rock upon which were shattered the
attempts of a wavering majority to resist every change.
The general tendency of his propositions was to assim-
ilate the Argentine Constitution to that of the United
, States.

Although in other respects an innovator, he dreaded
the introduction of any variation from the original, for
fear, as he said, " that a stream of blood might escape

366 BtOGRAPBICAL SKETCH.

through any opening left in the machinery of govern-
ment by ttie omission of some wheel, the purpose of
which, through inexperience, had not been appreci-
ated." This doctrine was maintained in all his writ-
ings and speeches, and any departure from it in
practice has been attended by the same penalties that
attached to what he calls " French novelties," current
in all parts of South America.

This debate, marked by the conflict of such opposite
parties, ideas, and interests, was closed with the procla-
mation of the Union by Colonel Sanniento, as a mem-
ber of the Convention, under the endeared name of the
United Provinces of the Rio de la Plata. The measure
was ratified by acclamation, all members of the Con-
vention, including the President, rising to their feet,
an example followed by the throng of spectators,
under the enthusiasm awakened by this sublime move-
ment of generous self-sac rifici". If it is borne in mind
that the subsequent Convention of Santa F^ was
divided by passions even more highly inflamed, that it
ended with a similar scene of acclamation, and that its
proceedings are allowed to have been influenced to a
still greater degree by the counsels of Colonel Sar-
miento, it will certainly be admitted that his invariable
ardor in the support of bis principles must have been
regulated by kindly feeling and by an onusual power
of carrying a required point and exercising, at the same
time, a conciliatory influence upon opposing minds.

In the interval between these two Conventions,
occurred another scene of so noble a character, as to
compensate for many others which have disfigured the
history of the same period by the hatred and violence

SENATOR, UINISTEE, CHIEF OF STAFF. 3fi7

displayed in them. This occasion presented tlie spec-
tacle of the reconciliation of enemies whose inveterate
hostility had heen exercised both by the strife of re-
proaches and recnminations in the press, and by actual
warfare in the field. On the day of which we speak,
the multitude of a hundred thousand souls assembled
upon the Mole of Buenos Ayres, was traversed by the
government carriage containing Generals Urquiza and
Mitre, President Durque, and Colonel Sarmieuto, in
his capacity of minister, to which place he had been
elevated, — these men, the principal antagonists in the
long contest which had lately ceased, cordially embraced
each other in the presence of the people and deposited
their former hatred upon the altar of the common in-
terests of their country. No more touching or human-
izing scene was ever witnessed by any people, nor has
the reconciliation of political enemies ever been more
sincere. Yet tliey were again to meet upon the field
of battle only a year later, impelled by a current of
events which it was not granted them to control, and
by the errors committed by each of the hostile parties.
The next eight years after this victory was achieved
over apathy and ignorance, and after General Urquiza
had retired to Entre Rios, his native province, were
very eventful to the Republic, and the changes wrought
and the improvements made, were due in the largest
measure to the energy of Colonel Sarmiento. His va-
rious writings upon education, the report to the Chilian
government upon the results of his mission to Europe
and North America, his reports upoa the state of pub-
lic instruction in Buenos Ayres, the educational census
taken in Cbih, San Juan, and Buenos Ayres, his able

S68 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.

work on popular education, and a series of occasional
pamphlets upon similar topics, were but the heralds of
deeds in which the spirit was to be embodied. While
holding in succession the offices of senator, minister,
and chief of staff, he founded and edited the " Annals
of Education," with the object of disseminating in-
formation and exciting interest in his measures for the
education of the people. He induced some of the
best men in the city to take the personal supervision of
the schools, and he regarded as his most important
work, great as was his reputation as a writer, his
" Progressive Method of Reading," which the govern-
ment had stereotyped with vignettes in the United
States. In Tucuuian, Salta, and La Rioja, the symbol
of a crossed pen and sword is employed in memory of

But his influence and his activity were by no
means confined to educational labors, unless his prac-
tical illustrations of beneficent legislation may be
looked upon as the highest branch of it. The tendency
of the public administration bore the marks of his
ripe age, and of the official training he had undergone
in Chili in the service of a government accused of
erring on the side of an excessive exercise of its
authority by the people ol' countries which are ever
wavering between the Scylla of despotism and the
Charybdis of anarchy. He somewhere quotes Mr.
Webster's speech before the Supreme Court of Rhode
Island, in the case of Dorr, condemned to perpetual
imprisonment for his share in the insurrection of Rhode
Island. , Mr, Webster says, —

POLITICAL INTLCENCE. 369

" Is it not obvious enough, that men cannot get together
and count themselves, and say they are so many hundreds
and so many thousands, and judge of their own qualifica-
tions, and call themselves the people, and set up a govern-
ment ? Why, another set of men, forty miles off on the
same day, with the same propriety, with as good qualifica-
tions, and in as large numbers, may meet and set up an-
other government ; one may meet at Newport and another
at Cbepachet, and both may call themselves the people.
What is this but anarchy ? What liberty is there here but
a tumultuary, tempestuous, violent, stormy liberty, a sort
of South American liberty, without power except in its
spasms, a liberty supported by arms to-day, cnished by
arms to-morrow ? la that our liberty ? "

And holding up these forcible words Colonel Sar-
mtento adds, —

" If the liberal party in South America which has been
overthrown by more than one tyrant, beholds itself in this
terrible mirror, will it not turn away its fiice from the un-
wghtly image ? "

Both in Chili and in Buenos Ayres, Colonel Sar-
miento has been noted, even by his adversaries, for bis
inclination to limit the injurious extension attempted
to be given to the rights of the people. On his first
appearance in the Chilian press, when he had ii in his
power to choose between the political parties of the
country, both of which solicited his support, he decided
in favor of that which proposed, while applying liberal
ideas to public action, to aim at the stability of the
power which was to represent them. Twenty years
have since elapsed, and no tyrant haa appeared in

370 BIOGKAPmCAL SEETCH.

Chili, although the doings of the government have not
alwavB been justifiable.

He followed the same course in the Argentine Re-
public. On the one hand he opposed the mutilated
confederation that excluded Buenos Ajres, which was
but a disguise for the old method of arbitrary rule bv
partisan leaders, and on the other he inclined to the
incorporation of this estate, although the people were
yet unfamiliar with the use of the liberties it had
gained.

Hia influence in the city became in innumerable
ways very conspicuous. When he entered upon his
duties as Senator, the galleries, which had been accas-
tomed to control the debates by biases and applauses, de-
signed to produce disturbance, and disorderly conduct,
covered the amphitheatre with pasquinades against the
new Senator. Three years later, the same area was the
Bcene of the heated debates of the Provincial Conven-
tion, assembled to propose reforms in the Federal Con-
stitution, — tlioae remarkable debates already alluded
to. The reader will look in vain for an mstance of
applause, still less of disorder, on the part of the listen-
ers to these speeches, the excitement attending which
was confined to the Convention itself. The eager mul-
titude of spectators held tlieir breath to listen to the
debate ; and .the 6fiy members of the Convention, ani-
mated aa were their contests with each other, were
treated with a religious respect which made them seem
true Patrea Contcripti. To what was this change
due? Simply to the influence of one man, who through
the press, by spoken discourses, and by legal measures,
had taught the persona who were present at the sea-

THE WEIGHT OF HIS VOICE. 371

sions of the legislature that thej were not the people,
and that it was ruinous to the Kepublic for them to
taint the atmosphere of absolute liberty, which the
representative of the people should breathe, by express-
ing their own crude opinions in the sanctuary of the
law. On the withdrawal of that salutary and restrain-
ing influence, it is reported that Buenos Ayres became
again tbc theatre of that tumultuous and stormy hberty
of wbich Webster spoke, and which gives other nations
such cause for scandal. It was the same spirit which
impelled him on more than half a dozen occasions, to
maintain from his place in the Senate the rights of the
eseciitive authority against the encroachments of the
legislature ; and to one governor, who had summoned
to his audience-chamber the leaders of various factions,
in order to advise with them upon the nomination of a
minister, he said, as appears from subsequent speeches
in the Senate, the following prophetic words: " In less
than a year we shall have to go and pick up from the
rubbish of the streets the fragments of the executive
power which our governors are throwing away, one
after the other, for want of courage enough to perform
their duties."

A year had not elapsed, when, in the presence of
the enemy, on November 8, 1859, this same governor
was deposed by the coalition in the legislature already
described, which was led astray by the fear of some,
the ill-will of others, and perhaps the treason of a very
small number.

While member of a senatorial commission. Colonel
Sarmiento proposed a new' law for the regulation of
elections, designed to cure the constantly recurring

372 BtOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.

defects of the one then in operation, as well as to close
the door against the shameless frauds, and to punish
the violence prevalent at the elections of Buenos
Ayrea, by furnishing definitions of these illegal airtions. .
Buenos Ayres would have spared itself many days of
disgrace and disturbance by the prompt passage of this
law, which was agreed to by the Senate, but owing to
its very perfection, was indefinitely postponed in the
House of Representatives, an evidence of oversight in
not making the legal use of rights the basis of liberty,
which tliat body had afterwards reason to deplore.

In every form this far-seeing patriot had warred
against the nomadic life of the cattle-grower, which
was an insurmountable barrier to the improvement of
the rural districts. After two years' discussion he suc-
ceeded in getting permission from the government to
survey and lay out in small farms, in the North Ameri-
can mode, an extensive tract which was in possession of
squatters, and these farms he sold cheaply, in part to
the squatters themselves, and in part to emigrants from
other lands. He personally superintended laying out
the squares with broad streets, and planting them
with trees, which grow as if by magic on the rich
pampa lands whose native growth is only rich grass,
that feeds countless herds of cattle without any labor
to the owners. This survey was made in Chivilcoi in
1858, and last year, a railroad was completed to it
from Buenos Ayres. On the occasion of opening the
station, many persons accompanied the Governor to
witness the ceremony, and all were amazed beyond
expression to see the spectacle. It was a Chicago in
the desert, as Colonel Sarmiento has expressed it. For

the first time within the life of one man, was a region
in South America so transformed. It contained a
church which Colonel Sarmiento had dedicated, a beau-
tiful public school-house, for the front of which he had
induced a. native artist to carve a marble group of
Christ blessing the children, and which was raised to
its place on the same festival, with an eloquent address ;
a bank of discount ; various private schools, and a fine
railroad station. Where the industrial movement is
most conspicuous, at this railroad station, the only
square called for a living man bears the name of Sar-
miento. The 25th of May (the anniversary of their
successful battle against Spanish rule), the 9th of July
(their independence day), Washington, and Lincoln j
Moreno and Belgrave (generals of the war of inde-
pendence) ; Florencio Varela, the first martyr assassi-
nated by Rosas, and Echevarria, the poet, give names
to the other squares.

At the three days' banquet of the festival, the name
of Sarmiento was toasted from one end of the long
tables to the other, by the representatives of every
public interest, each of which he had fostered ; and
subsequently thousands poured out to see with their
own eyes how a little enterprise could make the desert
blossom as the rose. In a land where cows were the
chief object of interest, milk could not be supphed for
the cities or even for the country, and the art of butter-
making was lost I To this day it is imported, and is
one of the most expensive articles of luxury. Cereals
and vegetables are now brought to Buenos Ayres from
Chivilcui, as well as from tlie Isles of the Parana, a
South American Venice, which by Colonel Sarmiento's

374 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.

means have been redeemed from tlie waters and made
the source of millions of revenue to the owners.

Thirty-nine individuals possessed the lands of Chi-
vilcoi in 1858 ; now twenty thousand happy, prosperous
farming people occupy the counlry, and enjoy all the
conveniences of civilized life. There are no immense
fortunes made, but great riches are distributed to all,
and are increasing rapidly and wonderfully.

The cultivation of the Isles of the Parana, another
enterprise of our author, resulted as brilliantly as the
surveying of laud in Chivilcoi. He often escajied from
the burning debates of the Chambers, the press, and the
schools, to the enchanting region at the mouth of the
Parana, which is a delta of thirty miles by twenty, of
islands, of a fertility unexampled perhaps in the world.
In sailing up those channels bordered with tlie most
luxuriant natural vegetation, he saw with the eye of a
San Juan agriculturist, that if redeemed from the wa-
ters, thoy might become a source of immense wealth
to the province. It did not take long for a brilliant
thought to come to a white heat in his mind, and se-
curing to himself from government the righ't to take
possession of them, he seized his most romantic pen,
and began to kindle the public with descriptions of
their beauty, and of their immense agricultural future,
if they could be cultivated judiciously — already a rural
Venice whose canals Nature had supplied. By hun-
dreds people put their hands to the work of clearing
the rubbish, planting trees on the borders of the chan-
nels, etc. Dr. Francia, the tyrant of Paraguay, spent
four hundred thousand francs in the enterprise. Not
only Colonel Sarmiento, but all the persons interested,

ISLES OF TBE PARANA. S76

lived in a state of ecstasy, navigating their boats from
island to island, enjoying the primitive and unsurpassed
scenery, and scattering seed on the earth just snatched
from the dominion of the waters. They had what he
describes as a " frantic vegetation," for the territory
was inundated every fifteen days, though only for a
few hours at a time, so that everything that was planted
was choked by the natural grasses, stimulated by the
cultivation to unwonted growth. The result to those
engaged in the uTulertaking was utter ruin at the end
of two years. But at the end of five years, the aspect
of the canals was one of magical beauty; they were
planted with poplar-trees for leagues and leagues, and
barques of all descriptions were navigating them, re-
ceiving the showers of peaches that fell from the trees
for miles together. Finding the spot so humid, he con-
summated his koors by sending a courier to Chili for
a species of osier for basket-making, and presented a
twig to every planter. Now, millions of money are
made by it, and they have cause to remember the speech
which he made on the occasion, prophesying the riches
that would accrue from this development of their in-
dustry, but whicli was then made the subject of ridi-
cule. There is perhaps no place in the world so pic-
turesque or of such dreamlike beauty as these channels
bordered with trees. They are the delight of all the
dwellers upon the River La Plata.

After immense opposition. Colonel Sarmiento suc-
ceeded in carrying a railroad from San Fernando, on
the mainland opposite the islands, to Buenos Ayres,
by which fruits, vegetables, and timber, are transported
to its markets. As a reward for his labors, he enjoys

376 BIOGRAPHICAL SKZTCH.

the life-right of a perpetaal seat in the railroad trains,
while tboosands are enriching themselves with the
fruits of his enterprise.

One disgrace ftil feature of the recent mutilated
Confederation was the perpetuation in the provinces of
the role of irresponsible and irremovable chieftains.
Benavides, for sixteen years a supporter of Rosas, went
on as a supporter of Urquiza, aAer the fight of Caseros.
To suppress insurrections among the people, Urqniza
had to interfere by force in 1852, not to secure to San
Joan "s republican form of government" in accord-
ance with the Federal constitution, but ^nolently to
impose upon it the rule of its old master. In 1857 he
made an unsuccessful attempt to reestablish him again ;
and he interfered in 1858 to punish the community for
the death of Benavides, who bad been taken prisoner,
and had lost his life in an adray occasioned by an
attempt to rescue him.

Instead of avoiding direct conflict with tliis obstinate
resistance, the national government, which Urquiza
actually controlled, sent a governor to San Juan, who
had been previously known only by his violent conduct
and his vices, to serve as a sort of executioner. The
result which might have been expected, soon followed
in a terrible outbreak, during which the band of out-
siders sent to torment the people perished at their
hands.

Colonel Sarmiento, then Minister of State at Buenos
Ayres, was informed of the first symptoms of this out-
break by a message sent him by his friend, the irre-
proachable and venerable Dr. Aberastain, and he
availed himself of the information to urge with earnest-

THZ OLD CONFUCT. S77

ness upon the President and upon General Urquiza the
importance' of saving the Republic from a day of mourn-
ing, by removing Virasoro, their recent gubernatorial
appointee.

On the 16th of November, they published a joint
letter, signed also by the Governor of Buenos Ayrea,
which at last gained what had been so anxiously so-
licited ; but on the very day that President Durqu^ re-
voked the appointment, Virasoro fell in a frightful con-
flict with the rebellious people.

A commission was despatched to San Juan, for the
purpose of pacifying the disturbance, but while on its
way, the old hostility of faction poisoned the minds of
its members, and under the influence of General Ur-
quiza, then living apart on his own estates, who tam-
pered with the forces that passed by his residence, it
became the instrument of a bloody revenge. Among
^ other victims. Dr. Aberastain, who had been made
governor after the fall of Virasoro, was cruelly and
uselessly sacrificed in a horrible massacre, among hun-
dreds of other victims, by that very Saa, who within a
year has again beaded an insurrection in the western
provinces.

Everything was again thrown into confusion, and on
the receipt of the news, Colonel Sarmiento withdrew
from the ministry, as his continuance in ofBce would
have misled the public as to the nature of the resolu-
tions forced upon the government of Buenos Ayres, for
circumstances made it seem the personal interest of the
minister that this war should be made, while in fact
the contest which he fain would have averted, had
already become inevitable. At this time he also re-

378 BIOGBAPHICAL SKETCH.

liised the embassy to the United States, because he
would not receiye from tlie hands of the President the
bribe of 814,000 with which he tempted him to with-
draw his resignation.

The battle of Pavon terminated these unhappy con-
sequences of an evil wliich a eonciliatorr policv had
failed to subdue. Urquiza was routed, the national
government was dissolved, and as it was expedient for
an army lo be sent into the interior, to secure and in-
crease the results of the victory, Colonel Sarmienio was
made commander-in-chief and ofScial representative of
the political views of his party. A pamphlet written
by him describes this campaign, which began with the
rout of a force entrenched behind the Carcarafia.

In pursuance of the operations of the war, and hav-
ing captured two pieces of artillery from San Juan at
San Luis, he was the first to reach the city of Mendoza,
on January 1, 1862, attended by the nctorious troops
of Buenos Ayres. Proceeding at once to San Juan,
he met with tlie reception to be looked for from the
people of his birthplace upon their release from so
long a series of disasters endured in behalf of a cause
whose triumph had demanded a sacrifice of which
they were the victims, as well as the generous sympa-
thy thus awakened in Buenos Ayres; for it is posi-
tively known that it was the odium of the San Joan
massacres that solved the difficulties previousiT insu-
perable either by political combinatians, treaties, or
battles. On January 11, he celebrated, as governor
of the province, an ofBce to wliich the general voice
had called him, the obsequies of the Ulustrious men
who had fallen in those massacres, and thenceforward

SAEMIENTO SCHOOL. 379

zealously availed himself of the means just placed in
his hands to abate the evil effects of so many years of
confusion.

The many years he had spent in connection with the
Chilian administration, at that time farther advanced
in the path of progress than any other to he found in
South America, his many travels, his steady devotion
to public life, all made him worthy of a wider field of
usefulness than that afforded by an interior pro^-ince.
But the moral importance of a community which had
undergone such trials, and the liberal instincts it had
always shown, were enough to make amends for its
scanty population in lending importance to his labors.
An era of tranquiUity in the interior followed the storms
of the past, while new sources of disturbance made
their appearance in the capital.

He availed himself rather of the deference with
whicn he Tvas regarded, than of his official power, to
render acceptable various reforms in administration
and in the collection of revenue, setting on foot, also,
flome public works, while the people, but for him,
would have been disinclined to any changes. A
Topographical Department, entrusted to European
engineers, was employed in the work of mapping and
surveying the country, a work required by a method
of agriculture dependent on canals for irrigation. The
map of the province has since been lithographed.

Public education, as was to be expected, received a
great impulse, in the foundation of a college for ad-
vanced studies, the nucleus of a future university ; a
high school for children of each sex, and primary
schools in each ward, parish, or department. Upon the

S80 BIOGKAPHICAL SKETCH.

foundations of an abandoned church in the city, the
building devoted to educational purposes was at once
begun, of which former mention was made. The fol-
lowing public enterprises also deserve notice: a normal
farm, for the promotion and improvement of agricultur-
al art ; a large cemetery which was urgently required
by public decency, the old one being overcrowded ; a
public promenade, shaded by groups of trees, with iron
benches beneath them ; numerous repairs of existing
structures ; the paving of two leagues of streets ; the
construction of bridges of quarried marble over the
canals, etc. ; and the opening of straight roads thirty
yards wide between the departments, to facilitate the
wagon tralEc.

He endeavored to bring back the refinements of
cultivated society to a province so remote and which
had been so exposed to conditions detrimental to prog-
ress, by the observance of public ceremonies and fes-
tivities on such occasions as the laying of comer-stones
of new buildings, at the opening of various new works,
and by military parades, all photographed at the time,
in all of which were employed the forms, ornaments,
and symbols used for such purposes by all civilized
nations. The halcyon days of his short rule must
have seemed afler their late misfortunes like a dream
of the night.

In his first addresses to the provincial legislature, he
proposed the development of the mining interest ; for
San Juan, an oasis in the desert of the Travesias, as
the barren region around the province is called, is full
of mining wealth. Three years had passed in fruitless
endeavors to extract the silver which showed itself in
numerous localities throughout the province.

MINING INTERESTS. 381

Mr. Rickard was sent for from Chili, anJ, after an
examination of the principal mining districts, he made
a report of them favorable enough to encourage the
formation of a mining company, with a capital of a
hundred thousand dollars in gold ; and when the stock
■was subscribed for, he went to England for materials,
machinery, and workmen, stopping at Buenos Ayrea
to obtain more subscriptions and assistance from the
government. No more fortunate choice of an agent
could have been made. Mr. Kickard not only fuliilled
all the objects of his expedition, but enlisted English
capital in the enterprise, by publishing his " Mining
Journey across the Andes," which made the pubhc
familiar with the name of the new raining district and
other public works (trabajos publicos). A Review was
established at the same time to keep the public in-
formed of the results of the undertaking.

If the richness and permanence of these mines, and
the skillful method of working them which have been
adopted, answer tlie well-grounded hopes which have
been formed of them, it is supposed that their shares
will soon be quoted at the London Exchange, and the
" Mining Journal " will inform the world of their pro-
ducts. Facing the central chain of the Andes, five
thousand feet above the sea-level, in the beautiful and
cultivated valley of Colingasta, enhancing the grandeur
of one of the most sui^rb views among the mountains,
arise the columns of smoke emitted from the lofty
chimney of the Smelting and Amalgamating Works
of the San Juan Mining Company, situated near the
mines of Fontal and of Caatatio, which are connected
with the plain by a cart-road, and offer an inexhaus-

382 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.

lible stock of metallic wealth to English capital and
metallurgical science, Jlr. Rickard has bought up all
the stock in order to extend the enteqirise by the
introduction of more capital.

It will soon be known whether these mineral dis-
tricts, with their thousands of argentiferous veins, can
rival the mines of Mexico or PotosI in ricliness and
productiveness.

But all this fair promise of peace and progress was
disturbed and saddened from the outset bj the incur-
sions of banditti which distracted the neighboring
provinces, and were carried even to the gates of San
Juan, which thus found itself tiireatened with ruin
while it was intent upon paving its streets and making
bridges and roads. On January 1, 1863, a letter
conveying the compliments of the season was sent to
the Governor of San Juan by one of the ministers of
tlie general government, containing the expression,
" We are sailing over a sea of flowers," Another min-
ister stated on March 22, " We have never enjoyed
a period of greater good fortune ; at peace, as we are,
with all the world, and on friendly terms with Urquiza
and El Chacho," These dreams of a government
which, owing to its location at one extremity and in
the most civilized part of the Republic, had fallen into
a false security, were dispelled by the fight of La
Punta del Agua, which happened ten days later, on
the 2d of April. On this occasion, no political pre-
text was assigned for their plundering inroads by the
troops of horsemen coming from tlie open country of
La Rioja, San Luis, and Cordova, and headed by El
Cbacho, a leader who bad been used to making war on

THE CAPTDEE OF EL CHACBO. S83

the towns with impunity under all the successive gov-
ernments, for thirty years past. The national govern-
ment entrusted to the Governor of San Juan the
suppression of these disturbances, assigning to the duty
the National Guard of San Juan and Mendoza, a battal-
ion of regulars, and the First Regiment of the Line,
commanded by Colonel Sanders, who was famous for
having received up to that time fifty-one wounds from
knife, bullet, lance, rapier, and sword.

Governor Sarmiento received his appointment to
the direction of these military operations on the 8th of
April. He had been informed on the 6th of an inva-
sion of Mendoza by adventurers crossing from Chili in
his rear. This intelligence, and the outbreak of insur-
rection in all directions, made the instructions he had
received useless and inapplicable, and forced him to
rely upon the inspiration of the moment, and tg act as
the facts of the case required.

Seventeen military expeditions were successively
despatched from San Juan, lowai-ds the south, east,
and north. The conflict of April 2 in San Luis was
followed by several others : one in Mendoza, April 13 ;
one in La Rioja, May 21 ; one in the Playas de Cor-
dova, June 29 ; one in the Chanar, between the last-
named provinces, July 8 ; one in the Bajo Hondo,
between San Juan and La Rioja, August 14, and a
final and decisive engagement at Causete, near the
gate of the city of San Juan, on October 29. The
Argentine montonera, although everywhere beaten,
continually reappeared, unexpectedly threatening the
place they supposed to be weakest, and mocking the
vigilance of the armies in pursuit of them.

384

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.

Eight hours after his entrance into the rural depart-
ments of San Juan, El Cliaclio bad been routed and
was in flight towards the desert, trusting to that and to
the speed of his horses for his safety ; but this time he
failed to find in it the security which had enabled him
to laugh at the pursuit of regular troops for thirty
years. The author of "Civilization and Barbarism,"
who has given us so lively a description of the warfare
of the pampas, had, in this instance, departed from his
ordinary course, and pursued the brigand with such
energy as to surprise him in his last fastness, where he
was seized and executed.

The want of space forbids the insertion of the story
of his capture, which did credit to the skill and military
tactics of the commander.

While governor of San Juan, upon the invasion of
the province, he twice placed it in a state of siege
under a proclamation of martial law. This course was
unjustly and imprudently disapproved by the national
government, and singular to relate, the two persons
suspected of dealings with the insurgents, who were
released from imprisonment by the national authorities,
met the melancholy fate of obscure deaths in inglorious
combats such as too often occur in those unhappy
countries, — domestic broils involving whole hecatombs
of lives.

Upon the capture, arms in hand, of Clavero, one of
the ringleaders of the insurrection of Mendoza, a place
subjected by the President himself to the control of
Governor Sarmiento, commander-in-chief, he was
tried before a council of war and condemned to death.
The sentence, according to rule, was referred to the

DH-LOUiTIC lUSSIONS. 385

commander-in-chief. Governor Sarmiento felt con-
vinced tliat he judged aright in sanctioning it, but the
national government, ignorant till long after of the
actual occurrences connected with this aeries of ope-
rations, failed to do justice to the director of this com-
plicated and obstinate warfare, until information was
received of the decisive afiair at Causete. Clavero
was set at libertj'. At this day, government sees its
mistake. In speaking of this transaction, Colonel
Sarmiento again quotes Webster in his able speech
about martial law and its occasional necessity, and in
his " Life of Abraham Lincoln," dwells with much
force upon that statesman's action in circumstances not
wholly unhke those in which he then took part. He
wrote several articles at the time upon the question of
state rights which arose out of all these circumstances,
which were afterwards published in the " Nacional " at
Buenos Ayres, and still later reproduced in a pamphlet
entitled " The State of Siege according to Dr. Raw-
son," who was Secretary of State.'

The future of San Juan became secnre upon the dis-
appearance of El Chacho, who had plundered it more
than once during his residence in the neighborhood
and since the organization of its mining wealth had set
it on the road to wealth.

The National Government again applied to Congress
for authority to appoint the Governor of San Juan to
the diplomatic mission to the United States.

1 At thii moroent, 1888, « change of cabinet bu threwn Dr. Riwmd em
of this posilion, and Colonil Snnnieala bu b«eD ■ppoinltd SecreUry of
Stale by lh< prtKnt BdmlDiBtTalioii, bat be decliDU la take the place in
Ihii lilt honi' of ill

386 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.

After resigning his office of Governor, with the view
of accepting this appointment, he went to Cbili to
execute a simitar mission, fur he was made ambassador
both to that country and to Peru at the same time.

He took occasion, while at Valparaiso, to protest
against the unprecedented conduct of Admiral Pinzon
in seizing the Chinclia Islands. This protest was
couched in concise language, which clearly indicated,
however, how the principles of international law had
in this instance been trampled under foot. A still
greater sensation was occasioned in Chili and in Peru
by his address to the President of the Chihan Repub-
lic upon presenting his credentials, due, perhaps, to the
expressive phrases in which this discourse recalled the
glories of the War of Independence against Spain,
the common glory of Peru, Chili, and the United

Colonel Sarmiento's resignation of the government of
San Juan, gives occasion for the remark that liis prin-
ciples have made themselves manifest throughout his
public career by the repeated withdrawal from situa-
tions of personal advantage wlienever his retention of
them would have interfered with a public interest or a
sound political principle.

When sixteen years old. he had quitted the manage-
ment of a prosperous establishment to join an army
which took the field against Facundo Quiroga ; in 1842
lie gave up the high position won in Chili by his writ-
ings, to attach himself to another Argentine army. In
1851 he did the same, to join the final war against
Rosas. After being disappointed in the ability and
disposition of General Urquiza, the commander of the

DISINTERESTED POLITICAL ACTION. 887

expedition against Rosas, to give a settled or a better
government, he alone of all his countrvmen withdrew
entirely from the scene of operations, as has been be-
fore mentioned, in order neither to countenance by his
presence the evil rule he foresaw, nor to attempt a
forcible resistance to it.

In 1855 he had twice declined a seat in the Congress,
because he could not take it consistently with his princi-
ples, preferring to establish himself in Buenos Ayres
without any public office, and contend alone against the
then mutilated confederation. In 1861 he refused the
embassy to the United States ibr kindred reasons, and
again withdrew from the ministry on learning the news
of the violent proceedings at San Juan and the conse-
quent death of his friend. Dr. Aberastain.

Before his departure from the Argentine Republic,
the attention of the world had been called to the
United States and its public mgn by our civil war, and
by European attempts to introduce monarchy into
Mexico. He still watches the political struggle with
the deepest interest and the eye of a philosopher
and a legislator, from whom we may leam mucli. A
letter addressed of late to Senator Sumner on the
occasion of the suspension of the Department of Edu-
cation, may well put to shame the backwardness of our
National Congress in reference to that cause whose
neglected claims are the strongest possible comment
upon the superficial education of our people.'

From Chili he went to Peru. During his stay in

Lima he was invited by the plenipotentiaries sent to

the South American Congress, to which he had never

> SeeAppuidix.

388 BIOGBAPmCAL SEETCH.

been accredited by bis government, to take part in
its deliberations, and give it the benefit of his knowl-
edge. He assisted in drawing up tlie treaties of alli-
ance agreed to by tbe accredited plenipotentiaries, and
did much to coach the alliance in such terms as would
least impair the sovereignty of each State.

The Chilian press has preser\'ed the memory of sev-
eral remarkable predictions of Colonel Sarmiento in
respect to the consequences of political conditions whose
significance his sagacity enabled him to penetrate with
remarkable insight, as the events proved.

In September, 1847, he assured Sefior Carbello, the
Chilian Minister Plenipotentiary at Washington, of the
close approach of tbe French Revolution whicli took
place in February, 1848, at which latter time be had
returned irom his travels, and was again in Chili,
whence he wrote, in March, before any tidings could
have reached Chili, inquiring for the details of an
event that he was confident had happened. His pre-
diction of the present condition of tbe United States,
published last winter in "The Commonwealtb," de-
served to stand side by side with those projibeciea which
Mr. Sumner collected in his striking article in "The
Atlantic." At that time he traversed the United States
from end to end, saw its growing prosperity with a
fresh eye, — fresh from the apathy of South America
and Spain ; fresh from the complicated conditions of
the most advanced countries of Europe, where he had
detected the clogs in the machinery of despotic and
indeed of all monarchical oi personal governments. He
also detected the flaws in our country, and saw where
liberty was travestied by tbe continued existence of

BEJLUtKABLE PREDICTIONS. S89

slavery, but looking through all these obstacles he
confidently predicted that in twenty years this would
be the Great Republic of the world, and command the
respect of all nations, possessing vitality enough to
cure its own internal sores. It is still more remarka-
ble to find a passage in his travels wherein, speaking
of the division of the religious world into sects, he
recognizes the principles of Roger AVilliams into whose
spirit he intelligently enters, and prophesies that
America is a land where eventually all sects will be
merged in a pure practice of Christianity which shall
repudiate all discordant forms and show the spectacle
of a religious nation in which only the principles of
Christianity shall be recognized without its forms.

Perhaps the most remarkable instance of his fore-
sight was his celebrated letter to General Urquiza in
1860, in which he told him that a year later he should
require him to answer for the consequences of that
invasion of San Juan which ended in the death of Dr.
Aberastain. In 18G1, and as it happened on the same
day of the same monih, while moving on San Juan
with an army, he addressed a letter from Villanueva
to General Urquiza, who had been just defeated at
Pavon, to remind him of his former letter which had
been justifie{\.by the event.

During his late residence in the United States, Col-
onel Sarmiento has given all his leisure time to the
subject of education and to the preparation of papers
descriptive of American industry and American prog-
ress, and of valuable works, to send home to his
country.

An able " Life of Lincoln," compiled &om the best

390 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.

autlionties then known, and made up largely of his
beat and most efTecttve s)7eeches, taken as far back as
the debates upon the Mexican war, and prefaced by a
very instractive Introduction, he has printed and sent
to South America, offering it " in unlimited quantities "
if they will but read it. The skill with which be made
prominent in it, topics upon which South America
needed instruction, was very marked. The burst of
sympathy which followed in the Argentine Republic,
the death of our beloved President, was quite touching,
and has been but little known and appreciated here.
They too observed public mourning for the event, and
their hearts were ojiened to receive the instruction his
life and death aiforded. Indeed the interest with
which they watch our career is very worthy of note,
and the noble s[>eech and defense of our country made
by Hector Florence Varela, one of the most accom-
plished of their citizens, at the Peace Congress in
Geneva in 1867, a speech for which General Dix sent
him an official note of thanks,' show how intelligent is
their appreciation.

His book entitled " The Schools the Basis of the
Prosperity of the United States." is a large work, con-
taining a mine of information and wisdom. Many of
its papers are descri]>tive of Soutli American wants, to
which the remedy ia pointed out in olliers upon North
American prosperity. This book is highly spoken of
by Mr. Laboulaye, as well as by the best patriots and
literary men of South America who have had the good
fortune to read it ; but an edition of a thousand copies,

• liare been publiabtd in thg April nnmbar

AMBAS AUEEICAS. 391

which Colonel Sarmiento sent home for distribution,
was stored in the government house, which shortly
after was burnt down with all its treasures, books, and
archives. Only a few individuals, who knew the
edition was there, and insisted upon having copies, ob-
tained the books. The catastrophe seems almost sym-
bolic of file disasters tiiat ever and anon befall the
devoted Republic, which from lime to time rises
phoenix-like from its own ashes, and after having
vainly fluttered its wings for a flight into the empy-
rean, falls back to earth with broken pinion. May it
prove of immortal vigor in the end, like the patriot
educator, who never tires of scattering the good seed
broadcast, sure that in the nature of things it is inde-
structible ; that a little vegetation will first spring up
and cover the naked rock, disintegrating the surface by
striking its slender roots, and this will make a richer
bed for the next seed to fall upon, till at last the desert
shall blossom as the rose. What undying faith in prin-
ciples is needed to keep alive even such indomitable
energies I

When Colonel Sarmiento was in Europe in 1847, he
was solicited to make the " Revue des Deux Mondes"
answer to its name by his own contributions to it. He
did not accept the offer, but the last publication he has
undertaken is a Review of his own called " Ambas
Americas," or " The Two Americas," in which he
purposes to embody all the current educational litera-
ture and improvements of the time. He has sent
home a large edition of the first number to be dis-
tributed not only in his own Republic but in the sister
Republics. Many of these are hardly yet acquainted

392 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. j

with the movement set on foot in Chili and the Argen-
tine Republic thirty years ago. In such portions of
the country, the education of the people as a. people has
never yet been contemplated, and this very able Review
will give the first intimation of such a plan to many of
them. He hopes for assistance from this country to
enrich his work. '

His able coadjutor. La Senora Juana Manso, inspired
by his example, still continues in her able editorship of
the " Common -School Annals," founded many years
since by Colonel Sarmiento. She is resolved that
her compatriots shall not want for the best theories
upon every branch of the subject. In one of her last
issues, speaking of this last effort of Colonel Sarmiento,
she joyfully exclaims, " the giant is on his feet again ! "
Like Antfeus of old, when he falls to the earth, he
rebounds from it with new motives for exertion, and
apparently with new powers of execution. The foun-
dation and execution of the " Ambas Americas" was
the first effort which Colonel Sarmiento made after
hearing of the death of his noble and only son in the
Paraguayan war. The thought of what the sixty
thousand children of the Republic needed drew him
out of his deep sadness for that immeasurable and irrep-
arable loss, for his son was a young man of the finest
promise, spoken of by his eulogists as the " hope of the
nation," the " coming man," the " idol of society," and
young as he was (but twenty-one), "the inlelligent
and pure patriot " to whose future career the most
experienced men of his country looked with expecta-
tion and confidence. He was educated by his father
from earliest infancy, and was just about to graduate at

MEN OF SOUTH AMERICA. 393

the University of Buenos Ayres, when the call to
fight for liberty and his country snatched him from his
studies. The motives of the allies in that war were
not conquest, for they mutually agreed not to occupy
Paraguay, but simply to dethrone tlie tyrant and
restore the country to its enslaved people,' The mo-
tive of young Captain Sarmiento and his Lieutenant
Paz who fell on the same field of battle, and were
brought home and buried together in the tomb of the
martyred Varela, by request of his sons, was as pure
as those which actuated our noblest young men to fight
for the liberty of all, as well as in defense of their
country.

At the instance of his government, which consisted
of his personal as well as political friends, who thought
his mind might be tem])orarily diverted from bis sor-
rows by a change of scene. Colonel Sarmiento visited
the French Exposition in 1867, and was present at the
awarding of medals to bis countrymen for tbeir anpe-
rior wools.

Such are the principal events in the life of a states-
man of South America, of which we have known so
little. Perhaps they have many more men of merit,
for in his works we meet the names of many who have
been distinguished, and of whom he speaks in terms of
high respect, such as the Generals of the War of In-
dependence, Puyrredon, San Martin, and Las Heras,
statesmen like Con Manuel Montt, ex-president of
Cbili, the celebrated litterateur Bello, the virtuooa

' It j) not cleirly onderslo
lyT»nt«if PtngUBr, «u not to found or delcod ■ rtpublic, bi
«njnr« ezlBndJag: avu Entrerioi, Comiaira, uid Vragutf-

394 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.

Aberastain, "aCato flssftssiniited in anotlier Utica,"
Dr. Velez, the author of the " Codes of Law," of which
M. Laboulaye says it is tlie most advanced work on
that subject in the world, with many other personages
too numerous to name and of whom nothing is known
here. But none of them have had the opportunity,
like the subject of this sketch, to acquire that knowl-
edge which, when well directed, serves to change
radically the condition of a nation. Even the circum-
stance of not having received that kind of education
which is given in universities may have served to pre-
serve liis mind free from those leading-strings of
national tradition which oflen becomes a second nature
in the individual, destroying a!l originahty and perpet-
uating errors of opinion. A man who has contended
with barbarism in South America, and has studied the
sources of the development of other nations, during
residence therein, must have acquired by practice and
by comparison, rich materials for thought, and a fund
of ideas of no common order. That of diffusing edu-
cation among the people, from which notliing has dis-
tracted him for thirty years, neither war nor exile, the
poverty of his private life, nor the seductions of exalted
position, has given a special character to his life. The
present minister of the government of Buenos Ayres,
speaking of education, in his report to the legislature of
this year, says, " We cannot speak of education without
naming Colonel Sarmiento;" and this saying will be
often repeated in different parts of South America, for
his new Review, the " Ambas Americas," a work spe-
cially designed to impart to the southern hemisphere
the knowledge and the ideas that have been acquired in

APPRECIATION BY HIS COUNTKTUEN. 395

the nortliem, will spread the knowledge of liis charac-
ter and cfibrts, as well as of his great theme, Popular
Education.

It may be said of him in reference to the subject
of education, as was said of a conteinporary by Plu-
tarch, " He is more than an eclio of Socrates in
the practice of morality, he is even a disciple." Who
like him has daring a long life pursued the one aim of
saving a nation from decay by proposing to rouse the
dormant moral sentiments of the human soul?

Will his example be followed in his own country ?
He has had bo little encouragement in his laborious
career that it had been feared few would be found to
follow him in a path so bristling with difficulties, but
the present sj-mpatliy of his countrymen, whom a great
calamity has waked from their long apathy, inspires
better hopes.

It is but justice to do so much honor to his country,
as to say, that by what we have seen of tlie corre-
spondence of " Ambas Americas," and through the
political articles of the New York papers, it is evident
that there are everywhere some who appreciate the
true value of his labors, and there is a party there that
understands how much it might be beneiited by put-
ting the reins of government into such able and
experienced hands. " It is like the judgment of pos-
terity," one letter says, " this opinion that is held to-day
of the same ideas and efforts which ten years ago met
with such resistance."

In countries so little experienced in republican prac-
tices as South America must be, the material facts of
an election are not always the expression of the most

896

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.

dominant opinion of the best minds, bnt rather of the
accidental influences of the moment. It is therefore
doubtful whether Colonel Sarmiento, being so &r from
the theatre of party movements, can eflectually serve
his country otherwise than by his advice or his writ*
ings, but that they are now esteemed worthy of con-
sideration there, is a powerful stimulus to his persever-
ance in his life-long work.

To Ur. Sesator Suxkeb.—

HaNoRAnt-K SiH, — Encouraged by tbe distlDctioD iHlh which joa bira
been kind enough to f»vor mc, I Uke the liberty of lubmitting to yonr
anlighlmtd eoQiideration ■ few obiBrrstions upon « subject which will
MWD bs bruughl befon the Senate, uid in whosB fiTorable ulectioD not
oniT the United Statea, but repobbcaa principin everTwheie. and tb* cir-
ilizalion af the popular muaea an deeplv iatemted. I have burd that
the diecontinuance of the National Department of Education baa lieen re-
solved upoD, and if Ibe measure i> definitely carried, lucb action will id
mj- judgment produce a deplorable reaction againit the gnmiog intarett
intpired of late by univertal education.

tor lUteamen like yourself, my aoggeitiana would have litlie value, if I
ehonld pretend to propose now plans upon subjects on which North Amar-
icani ara lo far in advance of otber nations. Bit it may be of soma dm
to know tbe impreuious made npon other peoples, and my feelings in tbia
special case would be, as it were, the expression of their eommon aspira-
tions. I can speak for South America, where twenty or thirty miUioiu of
bamao beings are agitated by a chaos of rsvolutioBS, which conduce to
nothing, t*<a¥ic ciTlaiB elemenCi of gocennitM art mnlmg, and I have
recently visited Europe, where I convened with eminent men upon tba
salutary moial iuSnence which the United Ulatea are tieginaing to exer-

Wben Enrope recovered from its surprise and wonder at tbe happy isna
of the put civil war, and at the triumph of republicaii institultont, —
among all the causes incomprcbensibls at ■ distance, which had hroaght
about this result, it discerned one aloua clearly, and that itai thai behind
Lincoln. Congress, and Grant, was apaoplt Ikat tauld nad amd ier<le.

The Rspubhc now presents itself to thoso who do not despair of libeitj
in Ibe world, with the uAoU ai the basis of its Constitntion. To the
political economist, the North American School, which creates the prodiKtr,
u a anlEoient exjdaaatioD of tba prodigioui davalopment of weallb ; and

in Tiew of the governioenli tlieni«»lve». Ihe luddrD iippeirance of the
Cnited Suiet and of Prusgia is gnU nalioog, ia cIohIv iJlied Id tbrir rra-
t«ii» ot uniTerwl ednoiUoii. England and Fnaci have aboved of late
that tbev bare profiled by lbs lauon, taking more intereit (ban fonnerly
in tbe diffuiion of education. Tbie i> Ihe clear influcDca exerciied by
American inntitutions in Iheir most acceptable forma.

Mr. Laboulave* tbe diatinguiabed Frencb profeaaor who baa done *a
much 10 make donb American iiiatitutioni knoirn In Europe, ant long
ago preaenled to the workmen of Lyona the portrairure of Horace Mann
■■ the only man comparable to WaabiDgton in the part which he took in
the definitive and vnduriiig orgauiiatiun of American democrary. But in
the greater part of Ihe world to-day. if Ihe inSiienc* and efficacy of North
Amorican inttitulions of education are known by their reaulta. veiy few if
any have an idea of Ibeir mode of operation, or of their or^nization. In
England, report!, data, and Ideaa are frequently lougbt from Ihe Cniwd
Stulea, and I am acquainted wilb the fact that the ei-miniater Bataui,
deairing to organize a vast ayBtem of education in Italy, lamented that he
bad not within reacb the precise documenti which could explain the aya-
temi (bat have given auch happy reaulta in llie United Statee, tbe only
eonntry which can aerve aa a guide in this reapect. The apeech of the
Hod. air. Garfield in tbe House of Representatives in favor of the creation
of the National Department of Education, bat been reproduced in the
preaaea of Soulh America as a etiniulus toward adopting the same measure,
and another of Profeasor Wickeraham, of Pennsylvania, has bad the tame
ourreney in France and South AmericH.

If tbe United Slates, then, awe an account to Ihe human race of (beir
own experience and progress in certain respects which are important to the
well-heing and iniprovement of mankind, just as they received from Eng-
land and from human thought many of the principal bencNls of govem-

establiahed, and the National Department of Education would bave fulfilled
that useful function, beaide the special object for which ic was created. It
would have come to he, aa it were, the Department of Intemational and
Foreign Educational Relations, and ita reports and data would, when col-
lected, bave been a fountain of information, not only for the Southern
Stalea, but other oations. for even if a Report of Maasachusetta or New
York Schools can be obtained in Europe, auch documents, by their purely
provincial character, are wanting in tbe aulbority which the aeal of the
United States would give to thoac of a National Department. The great
inequality with which education is actually distributed in tbi^ United
Stalea, and which it woa the confessed object of the eaid Department to

With some dididence, 1 will venture to make

APPENDIX.

399

npecl to the Uniled Sliles themulvri. The greateil inugoiiisni belwcea
the boutbeni liuiea and Ihe Northeni. hu cume, in my judgment, fnini Iba
Soulhern rnllowing the ume plan m that of incienl Hciety in Europe and
South America, and Ibe Northern advancing; in new and peculiar path*.
Tbe sytum ol educalioa in tbe South, limited to uniTenities and coUagra,
wai Ibal uf Eugland, France, Spuu, Italy, uid the South America of to-
day, ieaving Ibe mijorily or the people without inlellectuti prcparatiaa and
developmeni. The viaible sign of the advanced North American lyitem
of govemnieat U tlie Cumrnon School, »ni i( ever the South abowi tbe Mina
riiibU di/ii, its regeneration will be aecured.

For Ibe Kepubllcani of Europe and South America, the North Americana
have added > new orgaDisni of govErument in tbe Coiihok Ijchdol, Ibui
aolvlnjt > grave difficulty which Ihe ancient Kepublics could not iolva.
The North American Kepuhlic i> a government wbtcb under a m-i/fen Con-
■litulion ia carried on by leriUtn ipeech. AUibqs, Kume, Venice, Florence,
were republican ciliea (or city republics) governing by word of mouth from
the Forum. Waihiugtoa i> only (be deik on which the lawi are writlea
and where the reatuni are given for tbe law, which on the followiog day
the people in Califumia. Chicago, or Richmond, read m-iUtn. Hence (be
Republic to-day ia in esteniion indefiuilely dilatable, ai the people gov-
e it in C^ypl, in Capua, or iu Greece, beeaose

they can read lb

If, 11
1, patriot., it

ing revoluIioDi, would begin by founding cumoioa achaoln, in

tbe United Slstea, i> the cement of the future Conitiiuliona. If ProteaU

into bi> bandi die Bible, has « much aided by thii meaui alone, the devel-

Republic will make uaeleu the ancient arieiocraciea and Ihe modem reprei-
live govemmeatx, by auppreHing (lie'pupuUr incapacity and iu legilimala

You will understand wbr.wiib Iheie ideas and hopes, I deplore Ihe sup-
pression of the AiifumuIdr/wrlBMa' o/'Arfacaiim, which proposes to be a
guide at home and abroad 10 the laggards of the South in tbe United States,
and would bave been aTbaroa lollie other DBIicns, in the new path marked
out by tbe North. So persuaded was I of the beneficent influence which this
department was.deslined to execute, that I attended the meetings of Sa-
perinlcndeniB of Schools in Washington and Indianapalii to add mj voic*
to il,and ealablithed a Spanish EducHtional Review > In order to make known
at large in South America (lie important data which this public office would
famish. If Ihe preservation of the National Department of Education

not yel been put to the proof, I think you cannot be indifferent to the ad-

400

APPENDIX.

▼•niage that other nations would reap from its labors — nations as my own
in the dark upon the mode of operation of the American Common School
QTstem. May the hope of benefiting millions, and of ameliorating the
condition of the human race everywhere, induce you to rekindle and keep
f orerer burning the torch which is to dififuse that light

I have the honor to subscribe myself, etc.,

D. F. SARMmno.

Tigt 30lh, lioe 1st, for Chriilian rud aiUan.
" " line 18tb, for Ariile rend TrUtt.
" 130tli, line 2d from belo», for criii, Kdal rud Kcial mt£i.
" 136th, line BIh, (or f Jig-fool iJdlrri miJiflii/mH-ielditTi.
" S48lh, line Itb, for AyaauAo read AyaoKta.

" a62d, lina lit, for nowUdiiiccri resd nwaloiienH.

" S64tb, line ITth, for lacrtUijiov read lacriUgioiu.

" 2T6th, lines 4th and 51h frvm below, for pyamidi read diitrt of
Bahara.

Fage aSllh, line 13lh, for calhiiiral read ptiljjil.

" 308lh, line IM frum below, strike out DiKlor.

'■ 331st, jlne Sth, for Jacktt read JachnL

" 322d, lioet Glh and 8tb, for Liprida ittd LB/iridn.

•• 3S3d, lion 3d and glh fniiii below, for Jtitkard read SieharJ.

" aSlifa, linea 12th and 13lh from below, for Amioah ttad /iatai-io.

" 330tb, line Tlh from below, for Sriiuela nad Brimla.

" 313d, line 9lh, fbr C^liala read IlvipcUala.

" " line lOlh, for Sapraita read Lagrano.

" 345th, lina IGth from below, for Sadia read KaHa.

•• 353d, linei 1st and 5lh, for BoiitnT read Bo&tia.

» " " ■• for umitT jAvn rud nbcrc.

" 359lh, line 16lh rrom below, lor Duri/ut read OurjuL

•' SaOlb, line Bib, for Satialuoioi read San Xicolai.

" " " from below, for Uurqui read JMtr^uL

" 3«70i, line fith, for Durgiu reml Durqid.

^^ 373d, line 151b, for Bttgravt read Btlgmo.

" 374th, line 3d from below, Ibr Di: Franeia, Oit IgramI of Paraguay
^wit, read From Fntnct vrere tent^
Page 374tb, line Sd from below, for in read to foler.

•• 37g[h, line leih, for Vamnandrr-iifchirfrtid Chirf-qf-^Io^.
•■ aSilb, line 3t,t, for (WmosAr-in-r*/./ re»d PnodnU.

a HtstoflBoo&s

FUBLIBHINS SY

SAMPSON LOIV, SON, and MARSTON,

Crown Buildiagi, 188, Fleet Street

[May, 1868.
AND

HE ENGLISH CATALOGUE OF BOOKS:

fiyian Ih* dkU of pnhliculliili or i-iny bwk poblilhs]

tlnlnl IliE Copltigbu of Ih' "Londiu CualofH" ud
tbe'Bntub Csulamc." ODdhitk tdJuiu sf Ml pacH,

of tbflboaki published dnriQg IMT, udiDdm ibera-
J. pri» U.
INDEX TO THE SUBJECTS OF BOOKS PUBLISHED

IN THE UNITED KINHDOM DURINQ THE LA8T TWESTJ'
VEAHa — 1B31-IMI. Canluiiitur u m%er u 74.MW nXmim. ludar

Li(Braryt9wiau«K> Pnotiiig Badetm. ftad Iheir lamra, Oai voL nr^
t,* VolBine II, (rem IMT. Id prvpanllDn.

THE PUBLISHERS' CIRCULAR, AND GENERAL RE-
CORD OF BRITISH AND FOHEJQN LITERATURE; f'nng

po«t iiBb VI kll pu-Li of thv world Da jM^menl nf ftf , 1

THE AMERICAN CATALOGUE, OR ENGUSH GUIDE

TO AMERICAN LITERATURE: EiTiaK tbt fi

Samptoa Low and Co.'t

The Haudj-Book of pgient gnd Copyright Law, English and

fsr^gii. hj Jmma Fmrr, Kiri. tnl licclsth, u. ed.
A Concise Sum mary of theLawofEnriinhandFrench Copyright

L«« ud Inunuliou^ I^v. bj Peter Hnrki. Uma, Si.

The Book of the Suunel; being SeWtinns, with an Esuy on

KlMa

tlir Elian and all til B«i* it u dnmtKji."— EumiDn.

udrnoa bco^i ^ Uia wort AauU make luJttl^tiMat^ OKfinrnfua^

OUT bieratuTti ami woiti tUta qf UoC cvHisated Eommom tiahtn

._c ad lAi ynytew u inU « 111 (fixlnit of fiylLdl
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David Gray ; and o^ier Essays, dii^y

wlv/ori

I-ff r^ac d«p in

English and bc.itch Ballads, &c. An extensiTe CoUectlmi. De-
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Cbild. D

tllui

le Ediwi

h Fbeiegrspb of the Will, ifii,
BicbiDond and iu Inhubilanti, from the Olden Time. With

Memon ud Noie> br Richard Ctiap. With lUutniioiu. PgM dvo.

\Ot.td.
The Complete Poetical Works of John Millon, with a Life of the

. DyChul

ClevfUud. NewEdlUDO. B

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The Oncin sad Hiicory uf the Eneliali LaDKnaee, uid of the
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l,eclur«B on the Kaglisb L^ngukge; foTmine the Introdaclor]'

Man and Mature ; or, PhvBical Qeogtaphy M Modified by Haman
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mat^t, UualmteflJuihaMBapn^mudtKlBait

caMitm of tlU *U> IH MatO. A Jotr AM. ,

ioinn t\e piynai

. « y-™ '■

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JiA, ■»< U* H&Vi^r if tJu c<hmU. « idbcA IH luailo rUpnrf Air Ur
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Dr. WorcBiter'i Hew and Greatly Enlarged Dictionary of the

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The Ladiei' Hinder : with aome Plain and Simjile Rules and In>

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Tbe Clericul Auiatant i an Elocutionary Guide to the Reading

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^UtTxtnca. B^'OwnTvudwhoir, M A. Thud Edi'L'<iii."ai.
Aa Eneliah Grammnr. By Matthew Greeo. Kew editkm re-

I^tiD-Enfcliab Lexicon, by Dr.Andrewi. New Edition. Bto. IBi.

TbctBHniiTilrof thujuitly-fiuMd Ixiinn UmaisMl orgrdl sthoi
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Sampion Lovr and Co.^t

The Farm and Fruit of Old. From Virgil. By a Market Gar-
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aurt. Esq.. 04TTitt«r-B - --, ---

A Few Hints on proving; Wills, Cic, trithnut professiocal asaiiil-
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A Handbook lo Ilia Ctaarilies of London. Comprising an

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Frince Albert's Golden Precepts. Biamil EdilioH, with Fhoto-

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Liit of Fvilieationi.

The Bayard Stria, —

THE STORY OF THE CHEVALIER BAYARD. Prom
WiirDTd. Wilb lalndDclmii lod N«m b^ ihi Ediur.

TtmKverr KHui m trau woold aub to bt."— IToritnKirtA.

SAINT LODIS, KING OF FRANCE. The curiot

cbincteriiUc Lifa of thii MouRh by Dn Js1b>i1J<. Iniu1>

" St. LoMj oad Au eDafHmm. oi dutnied iy Jtvaiilt. not fli/y m
their giutemiiif ttrmmiT, bfii ui f Anr rvrry-^ity aifm, art bronchi uarvr
ts u, ijeanii intittjitfa ta mi. and Uatkialmmt^ ImmaKitywUikwt
taiiltan/riimmntm^iBidKit/nmiiaiUt aaditna. jAn Utt Uu
nalvaluaifnalliuury, H ta^Bu tar mvali aid or litarit, and i^m
la Oat tnulauKMrtiif Or wtrid mdBfkumiimaUBviuaUitMJmim
jclaA tatflw oa ;aui hi th* i/ari tpai if Uar atm kfi, and in U* kor-
ma$plitnoftktitfnaidiaiidaitniia. WtmharJtfim^tatAbMir
book/or bo^ttortadorfOrmniopotidrrowT-'" — Timo.
THE ESSAYS OF ABRAHAM COWLEY. Comprisinfc aU
hi! ProH Wsrki: the Celebnttd ChtncKr of Cnnmll.CntlcriifXol'-
tiiu Htr»I, fce. &c. Wilb Life. NoM, ud illuUUlDU b> Dr. Ulfd ud
gthoi. Nnlredlled.
-Prmad » U^iua

WuSrd'

mttafjkjttiiml, hi il notn ehirft^ knolcn by thou jrroK ruayt, alt loo
> IHH bmIM if any KnUr in my loiifiinyr."— Mnr/ BukII

iCdiiiBJ Aim 01 a null n/foiM, aiuf on mpmer ^ fA(

ABDALLAH AND THE FOtTR-LEAVED SHAMROCK.

fir Edmiici] Lkbonllsre. of tb> Fnach Amdemr. Truilued bj tlitrj
L.Baoih.

<^i*e a/ the nobint tad jmrttt FfavK iioria tvrr irtitten,
TABLE-TALK AND OPINIONS OF NAPOLEON THE

A wmpHation from fAe bat aotiren of tfm prtat num't tliTeed aid
qfUn jjTophttic UiovgMi^formiMg Uubett txivr Uft of tJu moa a rtm onJt-

Atwwtt otker Vobtma t
VATHEK, by WiiliUD Becklbrd.
CAVALIER BALLADS, by ProfeisoT Marie;.
UTOPIA, by Sir Thomas More.
BASSELAS, bj Dr. JobnsoiL

•• JfUu piUMert oo oti at tliey Smt hrjtai.lliry viiii haei fjnitKid HI

tiith OKI of Ihi mail -BBlaablt lad atlToclait r -■'•—'.. ■•-. •■

'., =__■ ,TuBe,,

ejt uwudfroiA t\t prai," — 8nqd«j Timet.
" TAtre Aoj. pei '

either oM rr^rdt matur crma* _._.

"' It* Howard Senel-u a perftaivimel of dMiiina.
t/tite u the btadinff imd petting vp. Wr hope and httiey
uiU tiiar$eU o/cimice UteratMre wUi be wideiy aM yrateftilly w

SatnptCM Low and Co.'t

The Gentle Life Series.

rr in caiftxira, prict 10». 6d.

•■ btirrra lo br pnntrii in Ittttri of fold, a*d dratbitid i» tnry

ABOUT IN THE WORLD. JEway* by the Author of '■ The

*' ItiMjvX tarytoopen it at a^ pa^ vtXhont fitidmff toBtt Aappy iJrn."

" AHOthrr rh^rmfftriMiie merit of tht$e fxvri/t u. thJft Ihrytnaiit it tknr
biainrtf. gnilif frirf firmly, to appiy the gunlijieatioia md thf corrfctiimt.
Khurh allphtlantfiTOpIt tktonft. tUtpeKfral nlft or mjixiBU. or -prinapttl,
rtUJid innesi i^ bffore yom can nakethan vjork" — LiEcruT ChBR-hsiui.

- ShouM bt ot

litirmy table, by rAc tuie of Eogrfi Tkeuamt.'

LIKE UNTO CHRIST. A new translation of the " De Iroita-

i«a no! br prrsmtal in a norc cnpiititl form, far

~he preipiunary mtay u icrlt'-iiTttteK, ffood, ami

tnnRt Uldrjte»denl tcAotartkip, a proftnind fffhn^ J
r mMule attmlion to delicate tttadet of apreuion. t
it aaeptatie eten to thitt Kha caJi f^joy tkt icork ic

mmnglaly
ntrrtrlatg'' —

ESSAYS BY MONTAIGNE. Edited.Compared.Retised.and

**27Ili rdilifr^ upureofqKettumabJtmorrrr.andiltprnaaluaitatlatai
It eiwh Icitkovt comtpttK^ ttu mind of tii^ rend fr,"^ti*i^y Newi.

" We thould be plai if otijr irojif J of am amid help to brsprak B larpt
amtiotioti far IMm kaniUome attTarta-e book ; and It-bo am refiar jiv
lumoft to tin food-hiavKired iadiiMTy of tM editer.''—lUatauti1iam,

List of Publicatiora.

THE COUNTESS OF PEMBROKE'S ARCADIA. Writwn
Tiiiadaii, u tlia Eul of Derby. Ii, id.
vtnbivight nto maUr ynmnatet tkann tMe onainai. by
1^ tjUur HHmDoJ mgnuBumM^ — Ft— inrr

is » (A<
M Mit to ^litirr wJt r^bin'—ioHu jmilMtrfirr tlutztr'tmiiy tr,

ut farm « KrUet it anr lia it^ u. oW gv ae _, .. _

... 1..... -■-■-'Tt!~iaVujmKiilitrfBrtlutzlTtmtiyaTaafiil

'orfoFtiman he /uabattacfd

upontMetertaatdiittiitTarfmurtnMhtm, ThtrAHOMtnt

A™dia liy Str W. AltBoOrr. W W. B.. lad te Mr. Joh:uti
nieetal. OtHn-iittrr-'^'— •— ^ '- -----

\f net entirely ent out.

_■ alph/iAeUfal inder to aJI tueAer ._ _...

mucA pAiioiogiaUraint at pomAie -—Liter*Tj Chnrrhmui
VI.
THE GENTLE LIFE. Second Series.

to thefomativnofa i

" Jhae zJviTvujig ojiUcttoK of oMia/t," — Landoa Beriew.

VARIAi Readingi from Rare Book«. Reprinted, hj pennis-
■Idq, Cren tbfl Sntnrday Bevtem. tipeeuitor. he.

Dr. ioba Fiatlu, Qnivnls. iiti. Oii;oi]. Puvclmi. Hmrdl Ih*
TnTFllrr. Michul SdoH. LDdawick Moiiiltliio. Bir Thamii* BnWB(,
Qtatn PHlmuunr. Ths H[|ilimrmFD. Thi- Bplrit Wm-ld.

*' An crtreaulif prftty imd agreeabit voitatie. We on itronfffy tvom-
mend it to any au wia hoM a fancy for the t^-wayt of bXvatMH."—

IX.
A CONCORDANCE OR VEKBAL INDF-X to the whole of

pfliHble Appendti,
'■ An imutimaliln Imdtr. icltidi IA« fxiUtiltn hart (foM a p*Nic Mmu

••^^l*t mbmm of JtUlm He book will be hn^ aftprrdartd, but iti
chief mine Ida. jfict mitlakimol.br foitnri m Ihi fart Ibat it ilaeamfK*
tEOrk^ook of tlu Engtitk ianffuagt." — Utowd.
X,
THR SILENT HOUR : Emp, Original and Selectad. By

Hmtsntd Itin BrriplvH .... From tht Homitlei.

VnreuooiblB UMtlilr .... liuc Hunw.

Th« OreM Lou of (li. Worlillng . Rirhud B^iUr.

Cnwiair kT Doth Dhd Sbalark.

Oo the OmlDcu tlOoi .... HaHilJiM.

Onr Dtflf Unu] Biihup L*da>r.

The Artof Coguntmial .... AiTbhuhs|i Sudri'

Of > P«*i»ible T«iip«T Iiup Bunw.

On th* HkTriKg* Kuig ..... Jennif Tarlor

TCaL"iI..fHc,B. ■ ■. JrhD R.^i."'''''

Tbi Thukyal Hurt liuli WiIlsh.

B>l*nt<. MrdiuUon. ud ttnl.

Aodstlier CH*7>b]' Uii £iliiDr. BKond Edliisn. Nnrlyreblr.

Sampson Low and Co.'t

HEW II.I.OITRATED WORKS.

SfHE STORY WITHOUT AN END. From the

GtnnBD gfCiTD'c. Df tbl lulu Mn. Hmh T. Autin.
Crovn 410, wilh t^u(t«D «vqaiAil« Drminn^ b; E. V. Br.

" Havtutl xnil lit M 11a Sack e/JVahtrr narr fmUynd btoMifiiUy
Bpt*^ for lam llimai- Till Story mWieM an Elul; of tUkvidoiu oftia
tat tJwt mat (ht iiinlli».-—QmmntrtT Brnew.
- ffiutoH ttrc a wuHt tmlAl tMioimf MH. Aulix'i xell-kmncn

^.L_- T, ji^. itautraial 4y E. 1'. S. viM

al rraem and faun/, II u iHmeull la
n i^icaltly itakttfaL bat <ct aoaiiA
E iH mraidiy. . . . But it u fufi

Oiiiaak Ht^if iVf <d>*^ tairrn prrfrd ttrrrlormnt ef the grari.fiouy,
tmi tnu f t M a l ytwmafar icAie* Uit tmlmrfi ^ g. C £. *an tovbtn

V tnorlhy of tht terl. fat Ikry art ^mmllf
— -€ HiM nnfure, and Aorc Ah* prmrnf md

(r-prmTui; icf AenrcHr hcx-*' —

T«i~Dr»D"i' il'T QoHi' Illumied <m Wo^. Luge r>p°r Edltuai
J., M.
The Poetry of Nature. Selected and Illustrated with lliitj-
Hi EufFnTLuR* hT H»irijon Weir. Crown flvo, bsadAomelj bo«nd
in clolh, ftlle edjrei. 6f. : avuowo, ICtt. 0d.

•a* Formiog the sfw •oJbioc of IaW> ClMice Editiau tt Cbciea Bteki.
of Choice Books. New Editiooa. Illiutrated by
R.A.. Ed-ud LiBnFu. BirkM Foilcr.

C. W. Copi, R A„ T. (-"rMwii^,

J. C. HonJcy. A. R. A.. UcorgB Hickl. R, Redgnri.

iii.ii'Iv"ii.

MilUD^ t-Allenrc

Bit

CuDDball'i PJcunra of Hope.
GnDdbU'l Eliub«thui PDCtry.
Colthdfn'i Aicini Uuiur.
Qoldindlh'i DiHrled VUlva.
OflMnuth'i Vlcu tt Wikrtetd.
Onr'i Kltur in a Chinbr«d.

" Btek mrkt are a fflonoia teatiAeatwn for a jmef.

tauffKt by thete amefntraird tpeamrru of A^ bHury."'-AiheiisaiB.
The Pyrenees; a Description of Snniincr Life at French

Sorf.' a^B.°Vioih. ifli"! bo"

KM. 3*1.

TravelUnft in Spain in the presc
M^iiIReBli. BqQweBm. 16..

'fe"'"'""',;:sssa

Litt of Puhlieatiam.

^^ HE ROTAL COOKERY BOOK. Bi Juleb God»mi,

J^lPg Chef dB C<ii.ii» of ih« Pui> JM-Iicy Cltib. Truiliud ud
9y IKl Ad*)ilT<t la KiiElub DM. Bt AJpODiiH GouBf. Hfid Prntlrj-
iZ LS ^ ""^ '" ller Uijot)' tbe 'Qnica. llluiKlcd with Imtr*

Aoi htUIcii Ay/<^ (Ai oUi^a^ null ciiiiip;il( vsr* » Oialiy lAot Am

■frt nifif frvrNf, f^T rrtntnf jTfTj rmn md fhijnmtA ^tnriwiint t^ hit n^
jaa diipbatd te M> fnd Andl a»t; a- Oe Omlilt, tkiU, mi teK*
wOktAiiikaamiHiitimMkmiitiatmi/MamdiaMBTBl^ifatv^

kuitn ntnafaeenUimidutil.GoiifeimrkiiBailintudiii

mud rBfarmti n eritr la te afjndaitt at Ijtn riMErtw. ^4 inrAi'miiiii
b iSu; Jt Gn^<r ocAimiiiJh^ iciU rntitad* M< ■ButoH *; il^rZ
e(<»rf Avn »«• (nimait artatt etikM dn, tad manimtdalbifnmkiM

, jC Ii«iif*;;b(yHn|UMa*Mpia>tiM>tU(Cbw(o/

fictvia. BibU tOfaiaiftr hafvr a hit friad dfncM llie' lit
if QkU AKdm Sciaiaataff: BBtryaaataiutaatca '

jmdl ai Ida at vnllie S'^deiai/-Le Urn, it CtiA..., -f^-y.. j.u
v^tpottiUf la Mptnk too h,ijhly tftht ciearntta cf M. Gowjfc'f bngjtagt, r^
Ult mtnufenru and tructtlu/r of hu dtrediont^ or of thf mnrrtUout Ituv

' 'KUfmimrjIalAra&iiBD

. . KtxKiUoflai , . . .

bU ottavaia tUmtrala lui tAtory ami hii pnuXic^^-Fsli'Mlll OsntU.

Artists and Arabs; or Sketching in Sanibme. By Henry

A Biatorv of Lace, fmin the Esrlieat Period; with apmnis of
OnrHilDdnd lIlDitntiiini ud Coloured Dhieiu. BrMn. Bnrj Pilluer.

Two CenlurieB of Song; or, Melodies, Mulrinls, Sonnets,
ud aim Owuion.l Vm« <,t ihc Eoilub Poeii -' ■'- ■-- —
jTin- Wilh Gnricftl uid BiivrBpbira] Nam by Wi

■tmvcd mcciftllj (or Ihii work. PrinrHl q« toned p>f
horiien. dniirDid br Utarr Bfaiw, F.B.A. Vmt b>
CJoLb ellm. 3ll. : moiHce, 42>.

Schiller's Lnj of the Bell. Sir K Bulwer Ljtiot

Smii. ud ingrsvcd bf I. U. Cooper, alter Lha J^icbiu^o b/UcUub.
Ad Entirpl; Kew Editinn of Edpar A. Foe's Poems. Illiutnitcd

bjr t^minimt Artuli. Ssil] 4U>. cloth eim. pnn tOf. til.
Favourilc Enelish Poems. Ckmpltit Edilinn. Comprising a
CsllecIloD of till moel celebnted Poemi In the EDiliih LuBinip, vilb
tantvtiear twg eireptiou BDsbhdfnd, bwii ChftBfier LoTvDBnQB. Vfitb

tnigilt.Habar|[huyle, Rib.; utiqu alf. K. St.

-.• Eilhn VclsiiK Hid ttpmimtoJr u lUitiHl vub. 1. 'Ewlr
Xsirliib Peuu. Ctasactr to t>jtt.~ 3. ~ Fannnu Zaftuh Fnoh
XbsiBMi IS TouiTKB." Each kBiHtBrnlj basad w elgili, u. li.

~ Oat of (*• (Merit mfl-4eekt rf lAe jmr, " »".««mi. skniui
Ami" u Mt a Uy tot. to t* iotf >r ■ veeif « Mf

10 Sanqnon Low and Co.'*

Cbrietian Ljrita. Cbieflv selected from Modem Authors. ISB

leideDce oT J. 1>. Co^r. SmiJJ lu. cloth ciin, lOi. «<^.; iiid»«»,3U.

Biihop Heber'a Hraina. Au lllustrBled Edition, with upw&rds
of Due hnadred iJetjfDt. EairT«Ted, in the Artt ny\t of Art imdd the
■nperiutfuilence at J, D. G«pft. Smkll 4t«, hajidAumely boand, pri«

The DiTine and Moral Songs of Dr. Watts : a New and »erj
choice KdiliOD. lUniuXHt with One Uudnd WhoIcdu In the titt

bf i. U.Cmftr. Hindi tlo. dclb eilrn. pnnli. id.: municn, \U.

Poems iif the 1

Light after Darkness : Iteligious Poems bv Harriet Bescher

Milton's Pantdiiie Lost. With tlie original Steel EngraviDgE of
John MuiiD. Printed cm ivgr T*^f^ rofftl ito- hudBiDclr bnpd,
SI. la.. W. ; mo™™ rMtra. W, \bt. «J.

VHW BOOKS FOB YOUNG FEOPIiB.

«j!«S|; TORIES of the Gorilla Country, nan-ated for Young

" /( Kould be hard tojind a mfrre Kutcreetuuf book/or boyt tAm Ihit.' —

/ormMitmlmicAmptAritumHertai^ euMtomt.u-aytiindineiiiuo/Afnamr,
and of onmr grrut am^armaa in tJie aear^nta ^ th£ Oordta^ 'IXl book

Life aTnon^rBt the North and Siinth American Indians. Bj^
OnriF Csllin. And Lul Hamblei uoDKtnt the Indiui bcToad tlie

The Marvels of Optics. Bv F. Marion. Translated and edited
b7 t:. W. Qniu. Viih N iriDitnUdtii. ClotliiBm. it.

arising Hal Bib, a
.a of Vftunt tmdthe
i aarrimaiti of our
nriieil Id lU tout

Lilt of Puilicationa.

The Silver Skatei; n Story of Holland Life. EdiCed by W. H. G,
Tbe Voyaee of the Cooslance; a ulo of the Polar SeM. By

Craft that imili
il Model Bhu, bj

■1 WndoB. e«slid

ta i[.'— IllsKnted

The Book of Buats. A Detciiplion of e<
iTh. a. KJD^ian. with nnnienDi lUuul'li"
" .Vo boy uiU a taaifot the tcater itaild In

" Thii wtU-jcrUtgK, vfU-uromgkt frooA."— AibenvDm.
" T/uM u soT?Mthinff bettrr tMon a plny'ftcoli : and It Kouid btdtfieuU to
find a more amptmiUKi tad tntrUiffMc ntanval about oU that rtlata Iv
tMg varutu axi ry of vtueit and miut;cat anpUmtnti aitd ftar" —
Saturday Uariew.

Aho by the Manu Anther ,
EmnI Bruetarid^ : or. Bor'i Own Book of Epnrli. Si. U.
Th*C™iMo'/'^ll«Fnll"^°6^. ' '" "t ««•■

imrk Buitlmg : tbs Lifn of ■ gulor Bof. 2i.

A Boai cf Lmghlrr far Vamg and Old.
A Bushel of Merry-Thoughts, by Wilbelm Busch. Including the

ftUt. Ac. AnatitatMl ud UnuDCDUd bj Usrrj Kogcn, p]uii S> 'w. ,'

n Or-x Miri

lb the Uouda, ir

Great Fun Stories. Tnld hy Thonias Hood and Thoroas Archer

ti> te cslonnd piFtnm cf i^wud Wcfanerl. Bnctihillr prinUd in
roloun. lUi. ed. Plain. Si, welJ boand id cistb, nilt id«B.

- - . .- The Lin R-HiBB-Hom. .-_

Tbr Chnrr-nlodRd Cat. The Utc RncliiDii-BDni
Uwtbo'HnnKwBBitt. Dog*Tobj. ""' *"

Great Fun and More Fud for our Little Friends. By Harriet
HTTlle. With tdnrd Wcbaerl'i PletDKi. 2 >dI>. each Ai.

Under tbe Waiea; or tbe Hermit Crab in Society. By Annie
E. HJdlFj. Impl. I611111. cloita enra, with rolcmrtd illiutrauui. ClMli,
u.: gill edgea, *.. 6.1.

Alia brmiUfiiily lUniiralcd:—
Little Bird Bid and Little Bird Blue. C>loiind,9i.
Bnim-Flalin, and what Iher tnld (he Cbiidrea. Colonnd, Si.
Child'i Book of the Bei(ianl7 of Animal*. b>. ; M coloond, T. ti.
Cbild'B Picture Fable Bosk. Si. ; or eoloDTed, 7(. td.
Child'iTreaaDTf cf Butt Booki. Si. ; h colnared. Ii. bf.
The Nbivit Pl'ruuu. aW Pictnra. Si. ^ ir coloiind. «i.

- Jtmmam^ i dttt l Imf, Mt --i

■ Wil l m tJ ummt M>M$ MT ' '

^aiiii..a^»<«

IHHB r— l*W; • fcr"**— ■■!■■■—»'—'— I II

PMI Dmicaji'i Uuk bv Utilei ■ Tife fcr Bon. E£tod br
rnakrnnu Wli£ ■■ IDMnttH br ChBbs K«a>. Fc». »r&

■Mb If. ; ()Jl adiH, U. M AlKHHTrn.

fcrMMMvri >Tkl*brV>utP««l*. 8t Hn. J. U. PwhB.

UIBnllM Otmnu. Br Mta Bftffccvcll.

Tki B^« IB !>,< BvliM : • T>J« ia Iha Wnt ladiu UiM w c ttM.

Jack BaslJiM : 11h Lll* •( • BuW Bs;- Bt W. H. Q. ¥h|W

QtiMr IjuIb I'vivW. By the Anihor of "Uncle Tom'i CiIhd."
1-1.. u.

Alto b, lAf xm* ^Ht^v.
Tho LIIIli Ynt Ihul Hfxill Uii Onpa. li.
IIhhuuiI Mini filMn.!!.

Tilt fori tr Urr-t Iilnuil. Illulnud hr Qllbcrt. £(.
Tk* HiBlKn-i WgoiBf. lIlHtiuadhxi'hli.tj.

QaugrHrhj f(ir mv ChlMren. By Mra. Horriet B««ch(T Btowe.
Jlilhtr tf" Unrli T>>n-( OblB." &e. Airuird ud Edited br in Ear-
lllh Udr. Wd« (hi UlHFtion nf Ibt Amhoreii, WlUi npoudl c( Fiftr
lllnilnuui. (JlDlb nlr*. li. U.

Cblld'a Pl*r> niuRtraled with SixUen Culnured Drawingi by
K. V, n.. prialid In lir-ilnllt hr W, Ulcku' pnccH. ud uniuieBled
""*" ■~'"'il LMIfri. Nfw fdiiioa, wkb India p^^'' ti°'». ro;r»l I'o.

Lilt of PallicaHatu.

Goody Platu, «nd her Two Cau. By Thomu Miller. Fctp.
LitUe Blue Hood i a Story for Utile People. By Thomu Miller,

Uu-k Willion'i First Header. Bv Ibe Aulbor of " The Picture

AlpbibK'-ud'-TbcPictsn Primer." Wiih 1w Picinret. Ij.

Tbe Picture Alphabet; or Child'i First Letter Book. 'With oew
The Picture Primer. 6d.

HtBTOSY AND BteGBAPRY.

£^-^3HE Life of John James Audiihon, the Naturalist, in-

Leopold thr! First. Kin); of the Bel^aiu: trtaa unpubliithed

The Conspiracy of Count Fiescl'i : an Episode in Italian History.

Bf M. De d#l«ljL TnnilmuJ hj DlTid Hlllin. Etii., Antlmr <^>
•■ llliloij of Un^uiligc.' with Partnll. Sio. lli.

T^iM, (H H'*rt in rrferdmaly a&t. Thf ^gfirh p*i'/ic arr gnatly
,4-il^ la Air. Wkirin /nr iKtrntKimp Is Utm a AuUnnn u ViiJ d/
tOTc. te esprrt, a»d to ffraerfiu va ttit Muin;wj4t(Kn ijf Jadt." — ldqd«l

Christian Heroes in the Armv and Savj. By Charles Hwers,

LL.I). Anibur i^-'LynBtiiuoiri." (.'n>D lltii.3i. u.
The Kary of the L'nitcd Suites during ihe fiebeliion \ comprising

A History of America, from the Deolaiatinn of Independence of
Ibe UurlHn IJniled KiH«, u the tlua it Iht n»«iED of 1779. Dj
OnriK Uucnit: iDnniiir the Uiird tsIdd* al lb* UiHaT eC Id* Aiu-

Sampton Low and Co.'t

\ History of West Point, the United States Miiitarj Academv
ud iu llilii«ir Impmimce. Bj C»pt. E. C. BojiloB, A.M. Wii

The Twelve Great Battles of Englsiiil, from Bastings to Waterloo.
Flutarcb'a Lires. An entirely net* Library Edition, carefiilly

KdiUd by A, U. CLonph. Esq. Hmedme Fallow of Ori«t CfplLpoe. Oi
ud Ida FroCnKT ol Eaulub Ucgtigt ud Liuntun u t)iiLT<
College. fiTDl>.B.D. cloth. 2/.10I.

i^Mr.

The Prison Life of JeiTcrson Darifl ; embracing Detaili and

The Life and Corregpondence of Benjamin Silliman, U.D.,
LL.D,, Ut» ProfHHor of Chtmiairy. MLnemJo^. Hiid GflaloaTiD YkIa
CoJI^re. D.BA. ChlEfllf frnln hu onn Btilt. ud ULiry. Bf Qcurc*

TRAVEIi AND ADVENTURE.

R OCTAL Life of the Chinese : a DoKnerreotype of Daily
<i Life in Chios. Condmned fraa ibc Woih ofihe Rer. J. Doo-

" 7^ book b^on iw ixpplia a larpi ^
'■*— — ^'~ ^- — — ^--Tflfflmfrye/AipiDOi

*• awnl ^ '■■^■■'a' -■

I BnUor n»b> wtt* tt( BaUcnTv 0/ on
tmafdlaawloAlaMitiirtaMitiwUl.tsmoitnadin.
■A i6 CrufiKirftbm.''— Sulnrda]' Rurlo.
' — '-"-^'n n Hvnta Mfrf Avd that paoeintcy begatAertd
tlu todallife c/Or Ciiiuir liai ran lir oblauHd
fmm mi) alkcT latra. Tlu imperlanrx of (At icark at a krytaa rigia
mfrTiriadaif o/IAe rturTodrr o/iBvail n portien o/ tlu Aimum raa inifAt

"'^,'°.

Lut of Publicalutra.

The Open Pnlar Se» : k Narr«i»e o( » Voyure of Ducoiery '
Uwirdi th« North Pule. By Vr. lw*c 1. UmttM. Ad euLiKlr no uid

" Tlu ibini of Om latt j<rc<ie ailtrprfH il mcift (ttrriM, oiilifil Ictll
^jOi-.iiMrt(iIm«ywiUii™ ('-••■-■-■-"- •— ■• — -■

U uKct U^ viri fan^^tiaiitdi^lhijti

, _ , KUuuUiMW.jW-'tl

btitatpdttjffaKuuit- . — -, -, ^

HOI onitr. , ■ . TIai aaj lAe cmumaifJiBt cf Dr. Hiatal aitoTTuK
Ht mrtvTta eatm. y:iXhtn %chuh ht dejmtO&d a rmcof^ tUanf Uhad V^ *
arcA of/orly-ta da^a/ruiahtvmtrrJianair,AttloodimAa

TJJX'i

t Dortberlr UDd vnr Hwih«d by mi
Wtat IM Aon hU 0/ A-. ili^M't Ai

rjt» fvU of MSffitl inforatatior

' tttrttntaU tiu eurwrty of
^ ^(H tC AifA pnut Mdud."*-

din u Afflcr mtitted to mve tuek advict Viott tke anvitic adrwit-
M ■ 17ii<^~i MiUi in I/if Jta> K-n Caix • Aoi brwmi a/nmHuir

B and I^es

A Tbnusand Miles id the Rob Rnv Canoe, on Kit.

nf £iinpe. Br John M'Orepor, M.A. Fillb cdiiiDO. wiiti ■ uiip.
and nniiunai lllumtioiu. Alu, Thi Buh Rajon c)i< Billir. A Cum

Iwu. I>nn e>. Hch TslDne. hudaoiiKlr bound m clDlh.

" It poat t aa a tMe ram nml a/ dispiai/iHg /amJuxr dutrii^tt of Enropr
from an Bilirtly umi pcm< of view , i( u im/tcn in a Inrlg. ma/fectra
itylx. u Mol out danm^liiy •ynpatliisei ailA l/lr Afro of Ihi lair ; muf it
u pre/KK/y iUitxtratgtt tuilh a nautber of tpintrd and occanonali^ very
IvMaroua vjootitittt.dtxpiai/ing skipper ivuicraftviaU lorU tif pinaa ami
pottUorn." — TuDf*.
Description of the New Bob Hoj Canoe, built for a Voyage

Letters on Eiioi^HD. By M. LouU BUnc. Two Series,
■- Thai iparkhJig Irltm imllm oHandinHai -OH Bugtaxd' t»BitTt.

■■ LetteTi fuU of eptffram, tad of tui^idar dfomau OJtd hiua"—
fipADtator-

■' rAf dii(A<ir u rtryfair in lia iTiiiuaiu of Bigliii luhili. Bigluli in-
ttitutumi. aud £h^im jnMu: run ^ ha etdogy u

Ugt (g bt ruC."— B*tard>T Kniev.

Sampson Low and Co.'t

Bnzil and the Braiiliiuis. PoortrajaJ in Fiatnncal uid De-

Kiildir, D. D. An rnlsricmeiil aT Die nrilio^ 'Drli, presFDlinc Ch*
MuFiiiL ud MrmI rnvrm of Ihs Empire darini the lot Tta Xtm,
ud Ibi rsDlu or IhF Amhon' rerctit CiplonU^ni on th< Amuoii u
a.e rerg. 0/ Hem. W.m 150 llln.ii.U««. b™, clotb unrm. ISi.

Old EnelBnii. Its Scenery, Art, and PeoplH. By Janiea M.
Tbe Black Cnuntry and its Grern Border Land; or, Sxpedi-

tioni uil ExplDnfinni round BirnunEhun. WslicihuipUn, &c Bf
Eliha UnTTitt. Svo. nlnh. iiu. OL

A Walk from London to John O'Gmati, and from London to

.b lllui

m VGnat't Haul

trrly, aud pritttkai tefra Uie drtaiis Ae Aad broia^t toarthrr :
taien hu farmer literary profi1tt±vjn Ota of the field Cy thu
vuiena of a£iUenta,imfntrtuitirj/, and ffi'Oti swiiuxjeiue. — Be

TniveUmg in Spain in the Present Dav by a party of Ladiei ai

mtpof rnat». &f. ttqunrc put gvo. cluth eicrm. IHl.

Wild Scenes in South America ; or, Life in the LlanMofVene-
Tbe Lund of Thor. By J. Tlosse Bmnnc. With upwards of

IM lIlDitnlianl. Clolb fl. flrf
Tbe Story of the Great March : a Diary of General Sherman's

ThePrainennd Overland Traveller ; aCompftniooforEmigrwiU,
Prairi^ "r'ci.pt-'B,il!w^rL7. Illiittr»tcd!'Fi;«p,Vvo!elolli,ai.'M.
. A Sketch-book of life, Men,
With IJIuuititut, put S>o. clDih,

LUl of PahlicaHonl. 17

Norlbern TntTel. Summer Bnd Winter Pictures of Swnkn,
LAplud, ud Nomr. hr Ba^ud Ttrliir. 1 idJ, poit Bvd., cl«b. Si. <U,

,dyw bif the aiBju Author, Back camplrle in 1 poi-, KiM ttiMttmtwIU^
Cnilril ATrln ; EiTpt ud the whiU Nile. Ti. U.
IndiL Ctaiat, ud JipiQ. I(. W.
PilMiii*, Ah. Uinor, Sicily, ud Bpun. T.. M.
Trmvili in Unnc imd Ruiiii. Witb u EuDnimi U Cnte. If. U.
CelondD. A Summer Trip. 7i. W.

After the War : a Southim T.Jur extendine {mm Mar, 1865,
to U>r. 1M«. By Whitliw Beid. Librimu. tn l£e Uiiiiu cr Keprau-

Thirty Yeira of Army Life on the Biirder. By Colonel R. B.

INDIA, AHERIOA AND THE COLONIES.

j^^t HE Great West. Guide and Hand-Book for Tratellera,

fejtSs Appleton's Eand-Book of American Travel— The
Nntbftii ^Dor: with Map> or RoDln ol Tritcl and Ibe priBclpsl
CiltH. Bj Ednud H. U*][. New EdlUaD. 1 Tol. p«t Bis. 1^.

Twelve Years in Canlcrbary, New Zealand ; with Visits lo the

i; or, ihe Emigrant*! Hone in AuBtralia. By
a Band-book for Seltlen, By Henry T, N.

It turauary /or tAc4ttt^ are about U becont atttitrt.''

t £ucBl>r>

Tbe Colony of Viocoria i its History, Commerce, and Qold

Witb Rimulu. liiFl<l>a»l ud CoiDputliTs. npcm Ibt mbrr Aoitnliu
CoIdhih. Bf Williui Wrtifuib. Anihor at - Victona aod lb* Bold
Mins," ^. em. witb > Uap, clotfa, Its.
TracksofMcKinlay and Party across Australia. By JohnDaiis,

ana of tbe KljiAdilion. Witb an Introdudtar^ View ul meat Eipiorh-
liont. Br Wm. Wnifnrib. Wiib uiimiiTsiia UluHrtuuu in chnmn-
liltaofiapbf, aad Uap. »y%. alatb, lie ,

SampMii Low and Co's

Tb« Prn^rew ind Preient State oF British India; a Muiud of

iBdiu Biiury. Otafn^ph^, ud Fidur. tnr mnenl OM : bued BpSB
OBciil LtocDiDsuu. ftunubed Dsilfl' tb« (Btliaritr r>r Her MajntT'i
BHn-wr of HUU for IsOll. By ftlootgomcrr MirCiii, E«|.. ABthar
a(K" BliUiyorLhcBrituliColDaiei,'' &c. pMt Bvg. doth, IfU. td.

The Cotton Kingdom : a Traveller's Obsenationi on CottoD and
BiplDnUoni. Bf Frederick IjiirllliiuiFd. Wjthaikp. 3 mil. poii Bn.

A Hiitory of the Ori|!pn, Formation, and Adoption of the Con-

Fr^c'ri. Bf U«r«> Iicbnor CuLii. luq. ;« >«U° gvo. Clstb. IJ. U.

Tlie Friocipleg of Political EcoDomy applied to the Condition,

lb, Hhobrm. ind iDOIXBIiwi or tlie Anerieu P»p1.. By FnscU
Bo»™. B'o. Clolh. 1*J.

A Hiitory of New South Wales from tbe Discoyery of New

Eiq„ Membii

of Ibl' J

SCIBNOB AND DISCOVEBY.

DICTIONARY of Photop^phj, on the Basil ot

Bollon'iDiiuoiiKrT. R»wii(lcn hyTioftMor OiirttPn, of KiBK'l

r 14 eoHmetiOK vntA pheto-
•rrniyeara. — u ttook yihuA
'je/iifto photoffraj^en-"-^

Biiiiih Jourad of Phoioj(r«(ihy.
A Bistory of iheAtlantic Telegraph. By Uenry M. Field. ISmu.

J.. M,
The Structure of Animal Life. By Louis Agassiz. With 46

nw Fhysioal Oeography of the Sea and its HeteoroloEV i o

nliBtanMiDit

n- U. F. HuiT. IiliP

_.. . .. arc<m.mM^i,^

Tanlk EdilloB. With Cliuu. Pnt Bto. cloth n-

" To captain Uimry n on mdMtdfor muek a
aO Out •*inM!ul pai imw rf tlu mtH ef tit i
teatcn ef Oa JtOnUie oW Act*' oetaxt. Hap^taOy KuUille waM
tliMm*mtiUbiiiitlitlm*dl<fmetmtn.trlyjxn eaA aHdaUiff Hum
Otpladi Mam mjute «r tItiiUim or abmu u icitk tiplauaiaiiM aid
tkaoria, npieU itifA mmality amd emiut. Sit U maeed a nauti
manual, a knnd-booli of at ho. um^iv niM fri$h inf iml errry In
Mof AfoU upim our mtret .- ptu^ if flafvnof /arJ Jo iriniAfii n Aof A lott
flud Znu^Anfli a erarinff to knotif jngrr imtmaleiy the twrttt of tlujt m
dtrfui ettmtnt. 7'ht Ijood that Mamy has dome in aurakrmng the poto
■■ ifiittrTTafiimoflhrI>oi,.ilaridttrnimHliXiiriao/EiifliadaiidAmiT

List of PttHieations.

The Recent Froereas of Aatronomy, by Eliu Loonii, IX.D.
3rd Edition. PWSro. U.td.

Aa Introduction Co Practical Astronomj, b; the Swne. Bro,

Manual of Mi nmtogy, including ObncrTBtions on Mines, Rncka,

JiniM D, Dm "ASirATlhor of a "'sjiwrn of ii^tricfj,-- iftw Ed,.

TBADE, AaRtCDLTOBE, ETO.

S^^'HE Book of Farm ImriemenU, and their Construction:
QSjfPg hr John L. Thonu. With 300 llliuliuioni. Umo. ti. td.

rS I rVt "^B ^''■'^'■'^ ^'"^^jc^'i ^''■'^l ''y 'A-^^o'i'i*'^ Fcp.
Villas and Cottssei; by Calrart Tatiz, Architect. SOU Illiutra-
Bee-Keeping By "The Times" Bee-muter. Small post Svo.

The Bubbles of Finance : the KefetatioDS of a City Man. Fcap.

»'0. rui7 boudi. pn« 3>. U.

The Profits of Panics. By the Author of " The Bubbles or_

FiiiHDc-e." ITmo. boudj. Ii,

Coffee I A Treatise on i(g Nature and Cultivation. WiOrmofe

R. W. LweljH. Foil Sro, clolh, H. W,

Tfae Hailvay Freighter's Guide. Defining mutual liabilities of

C»m«i ind Fri!i(ih«ri. mid »f:liuiiiii|i miini of ntc^. sffniiiiu,

lo imfit in«ii«pfin«il. u linrhonrd bj ApH of PurlltoicBt. Hfi-lim.
■ad OeoDnl Ub(<. ByJ. B. Uutu. Itas. det^tt. U.

THEOliOCrY.
^SgHE Origia and History of the Books of the New Tena-

" JV Kvrk aXibiU n ftrry pagt tKt rtomp of unttrvvj jndttatfy, ^fp-
lottal mearck, and Kand nvthod. 7>ffTr u rucA a tiine of }uarry tanu*t-
iMu, agornus tJiought, and dear deci*ii-F nprtitsion adtntt rAr /mA. that oHt

" TTit autiior bri^'ovi foreibiy the aventihflniuiff nmtkicr^t endntee
Jar thg bookt of tht Aeuj Teatanunt om cvmpartd ic*f A the like mdrnrtfor
tXe iKtt attetted e/ the jtr^ftmt uJnttrt, . . . Re adds these remark .-
•Ivmrtthai titraeU hcrt btaau* thr FaUtn had wayi nf loolaao at
dJu beola 0/ the BiUt Khtck m aurdoyhm marly lirconrolinileU, and
whiek onffht, m toau ■woffirfl nt teatt, la ^ nncf^ The incrtdttlttf of

iloaeoftks latat itaefid boo^ Khtch Off Umtt hatr

•• The book u my aM^ larMen. and triU ir rtad Kith plennre bu ai
lov ii:Aa tcUh tajuutfreth ar^ttmentt to confirm that ui their feutA."—

treattM, or the prttdicai effect of if i teackf^g. - . - ^'o tme can rise
front the ittldy of hu book Irithout hai-ap hu mind enlarged by itt pro-
fiatiidrperMlatioH,hitdevotioK itirred bji%lt piety, mid his faiUtatabbthtd
on, a broader baiU of thoitghi and Jinou^tedge." — OnBrdiui,

uklnTKj. at, fid

The Land and the Book, i
b> W. M. ThoffiMi, M.d!, I

is dmrn from
if (he HdIt Lud.

A Topof7«pliica1 Picture of Ancient Jerusalem j beaatifully co-

Svs. |ip, M3, b«Tc]led bauds, It

List of Publications.

The Life of the iate Dr. Moaauin, Bishop of Quebec. Svo

maJai JurtaiUr'i
oils aa^Bpim';

It Sufferings. Bj EUhn Batritt. 12mo.
J(ft thit chord of tyntpatJoi inf A tuffemy
mrt IknU malm hm. But lit titla lir

iibM
balltqf Godaad

-,,— — r--HiMaflVTvtifM IT pnmptty piliftU at lay

M ^ttf'iaenlla lacordi (n<i Itaiitnallyfirli la bi mli, durainnut

kimgir, wd oaid and mJtai^rMt^ Tite boeJt u a tpeamen of fiawerfni.

/urrrl-xtirrviff KTiUHff"-'-Oatrdiua-
- TIas u It maa valuable icark on a luijal of itrrp mportirBM. Thi

abject u ta thaw f Af am and aetioH of areat imgKrwit ui iht dtteiapmfmt

t^ drutua fuak and cf ifHriUat U/i.'-~(Jbiaya.

Faith '6 Work Ferfected, The Bise and FroRreM of ihe Orphan
iBge. Fc.p.

hort Melho

IT Umiume i

MenuludM . , . ..^..

b^ WbiltlDiibuu. t3mD. iJotta. li.

Cbrislian Believin? and LJviug. By F. D. BuntiiurtoD, D.D.
CrowDSn, clmh.Si, U.

Life Thoughts. By the Rev. Henrv Ward Beecher. Two Series.

Dr. Beecher'* Life and Corres

E<littdt.7lu.S<m. 3..Ji.p»tll

pondence: an Aub

„"z-""-

Life and Experience
frt^rllpb^. Ed.
Portnil. Third t;

of Madam

de la Moth
•h CiergnuM

Guyo

. BvPro-

vo.cI.ll..wiifc

Life of M^utitn
Th.L,f.ofFa.

Bj, tMe .am, AMor.

Dih. 4i.

IJIW

AND JUKISPRDDENOB.

JW^HEATON'S Elemen

u of Intematinnnl Law. An

nliirt bj R. E. ItuM. Agibor or
eUuVkt Ho/^ (Yo. tlcUmt™.

Uistorv of the Lew o
Commentaries on Ame

IV Henrv Wheaton. LL.D.

iu-," 'Hor. Svo. cjoih.aii. M,
y Chaneellor Kent. Ninth

the Law of ETidenee ; by Simos Greeoleaf, LL.D.

.S't.cnil. 4i.U.

Sampiofi Low and Co.'»

Treatise on the Mekaure of Damans; or, An Enijuirj into

Jniure. Bf ThHdDrg gcdgmck. Thml Icvucd LdiUDD. eulugcd.
llD|MFi>l 8>o. ciDLh. Ul. W.

Juatice Story's CommentsriM on the Conititution of the United

Jailice StoTj'a Equity Jurisprndeace. S toU. 8tO. 63(.; and
Eqollr Plemdmgl. I vol. Bvo. 3lJ. td.

W. W. Smrv's Treatise nn the Lew of Cootracts. Fourth Edi-
tJQV» gtvAllr ealuged wi4reviHed. 3 volt, i^o- c]oI^,IUf.

riCTION AND HISCELI^NBOUS.

^i^5 NEW Norel By Mrs. H. B, Slowa. 3 vols.

{^|^g|VJ Cousin Jack ; a Bomestic NoreL B; a new writer.

Norwood. B_v Henry Wonl Beecher. ' 3 toU. crown 8vo., S4i.
Other I'eople'n Windnwn, By J. Hain Friswell. 2 vol*, post 8vo.

The Guardian Anpeh a Romance. By the Anthor of " The
Toilers of the Sea. By Victor Hugo. Transli»t«i by W. Moy

By Dullcn Cook, Author of " P»ol
Anne Judge, Spinster. By F. W Robinson, Author of " Oruid-

mcthir't Moncf," 3 Toll. £11.

pMsinf the Time. By Blonchard Jerrotd. S vols, post Bro. 16i.
Marian Jlouke. By Benry Sedley. 3 vols. 2U.

Sir Felix Fav, Burt. Bv Dutton Cook. 3 lols. post Bto. 34i.

Thr TiimJi of the Treilp<>]da. Br Ihl umg. J vpji. Mi.

A Mere Story. By the Author of " Twice LosL" 8 toIs. 341.
John Godfrey's Fortunes. By Bayard Taylor. 3 toU. 24i.
Hniuah TtaiinigB. B|t llii hbu Anlhar. S voU. 3ii.

Litt of FublieatU)n$.

EDtcrcuniDg KndExceUeDl Stories for Yomig Indies, 3i. 6<f, each,

Th* UlLrwDrlhira. B): tbe luar J
The Mimioi H Lsdloi.. Br the Autborot" Uaj Po-cil." Newl;dl-
Uiia Biddj FnliHhu: ft fltit Water 61017. Br the tunc AgtJiiv. Ii'ev
BelTniIlliii: K Btaryof lUl^ B; CheHme Aolbar. Nfw Edllinn.

Msriaii ; or, the Light or Some Une'i Hume. B^ Maud Jeaone

Alio, bji tAe lamr Amlhitr,
Emilr'iChoirc: ■n«D>iriili»T>1e. £1.

The Shadv Side and the Sunny Side. Two Tales of New
EdrIuiiI. By Coonlry pMtor.' WivH, ClMh, gilt edga. Si. M.

*' WritttH letth grrat miht. ait4 potteaut a dnp an^ Cfiptwatma tn-
ien*l — on iiittreat M^hck Kiti mcMaiK tV vttn-at of aii exmlemj^Silm

BuA ncA Aoo^, tad trpaciaJty t\it book, to bt rod by cveryflu."

Sludird.
Female Life in Prison. By ■ Prison Matron. Fourth and

rhe»per (diliaD : wilh > Phoiognph. bj permimou, from the HDgnving

£diEion. Imnry bimrdi, £l. 6d. ^

Mytelf and My Kelatires

Taies far ths Marines. By Walter Thombury.
The Aulocrat of the

HoliD«. LL.D Popn:
pnnI^.cloIhellntBj^

plaufuiKfa, btini nmuj Ike pagr- Ue hfitt
book, or OHt to vb^ we Koma uutrt mdJy re
The Professor at the Breakfa.st Table. By Olirer Wendell Holmes,
Author nf "Tbt Auucnt of (be Btak^l-Tiblc," Cfaup EdiUuo
fup Si. td.

•• A KMfcoiiK book, ft may *f laka up a^atu and agam. oid i!i payee
paused oriT far the e^jo^menl af Ike /deatant loiuiui and nffutnt

The Rooki' Garden, and other Papers. By Cuthbert Bede,

The While Wife; wilh other stories, Supernatural, Komani
and Ufaiimry. Collieiid ud Itluiniei) b, ColhlxM Unle, Poii s
■lath, W. Vhop EdiUoa, lucj hnvdt, ill. td.

S4 Sampton Low and Co.'t Lot of Fublieaiumt.
TbeFnarlofOrr'iIsUnd. A Story of the Cout of Maine.

Mn.

■I I. J

vrHler-CDloar hj

The Mioiater'ftWooinp ; h Tale of New Enf land. By (he Anlhor

ThirtHi: Illliiumtliwi br Hkblol K. bnwac, lit.-~3. Pnpnlv EditKiD,

NothiDgtoWeiir,andTwoMil!ioQB,byWillimnAUenBuUer. It.
Bkilwiy EditioDR of Popular Fiction. On good paper, well-

Pail] Foster's Daughter. 3i.
Lost Sir M aasinglwrd. 2i.
Bubbles of Finance, it.
Profits of Panics, li.
The Gaywonhys. 1>. Gd.
The Autocrat of the Break-

fKtTmble. ll.
The King's Mail. 3i.
Uj Lauly Ludlow. 3i.

When the Snow Falls. Si.
FaithGartney'aGiribuod. U.Sd
Mrs. Stuwe's Little Fuxea. I>.

Huuse and Home. It.

Fo.iCslepK Behind Him, St.
Right at Last. By Mn. Gu-

Hobso.

Cix>k.

s Choice. By Dattoo

Tauchnitz s English Editions of
German Aui/iors.

Sub Valnme. cloth Inihle. -It. ; or H*ed, li. td.
TkK foUotcutg art hjpb ready : —

On the Heights. By B. Auerbach. TranaUted by Bun-

Id the Year '13 : a Tale of Mecklenburg Life. By Friti Renter.

Tnnilsiifil fniD ihf Plau.Iicnuch. by CIi>tJ« L« Lewea. t lol.
Faust. By Goethe. From the German, by John Aniter, LLJ).

Undine ; and other Tales. By FoucjuE. Translated by Bunnett.

L'Arrabiata: and other Tales. By Paul Heyie. From the

Osudu, brUurWllnii. Inl.
He Princess of Bninswick-Wolfenbllttel, and other Tales.

fif Hciurirh ZKbokke. Fnoxlif G»ru<u>.li} Jtl. A.Fibcr. Itol.

LONDON: SAMPSON LOW, SON, AND MAKSTON,

CROWN BUILDINQB. 168, FLEET BTKEET.

Englhh, A men'nm, and Colonial BookielleTi and PuUisheri.

Obuvick Prtni^WbitliogbiDiud WUkiu.Tooki Coart. CbiDctry Luc.

CECIL H. GREEN UBRARY
STANFORD UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES
STANFORD, CALIFORNIA 94305-6004
(6501 7231493
grncirc@suliiiail.sIanford.edu ^^
All books ars subject to recall. ^^H
DATE DUE ^1

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Full text of "Life in the Argentine Republic in the Days of the Tyrants: Or, Civilization and Barbarism"

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